AJ McKee might be set to defend his Bellator featherweight title this Friday night, April 15, but he’s revealed that he won’t be staying with the promotion unless they pay up. If they don’t, he knows exactly where he wants to go.
McKee told The MMA Hour that anything under a million per fight would be going “backwards”, and is sticking to his guns amid ongoing contract negotations.
AJ McKee Demands $1 Million per fight to Stay with Bellator, Teases UFC Move
“They did [try to re-sign me]. I had already fought previously for a million dollars. I feel I should never have to see anything under a million dollars again, especially with the achievements I’ve accomplished. Every time I step in that cage, there’s an ‘O’ on my record.
For me to go backwards, anything under a million, I feel it’s just not reasonable. We were at like [$500K] but it’s not appetizing to me. There’s been nothing re-signed so currently championship clause, three fights [remaining].
It doesn’t specify specifically [how long the contract lasts] so it’s normally about six months per fight, a year and a half [left]. A year and a half but I’ve got other things going on outside of that, all kinds of other stuff.”
He’s not averse to staying with Bellator, but fighting is the McKee family business and he wants to go where the money is. “Possibly, if we can’t come up with the million dollars, then yeah [this could be it].
Also that’s the thing. Every time I fight, my numbers are going to double because I want to be back paid for the fights that I haven’t. It’s business. I’ve got families to feed.
I look forward to having children of my own someday. This is how my father eats. It’s generation after generation. This ain’t no new story for us. Can’t stop me but you can slow me down a little bit.”
That money may well be with the UFC, Bellator’s biggest rival, where the featherweight division is ruled by Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski.
“It’s always been a dream of mine and a goal of mine to own a UFC title. Just as a kid I grew up watching ‘Rampage’ [Quinton Jackson]. As a kid in the gym, that’s the first UFC belt I ever saw.
Owning a UFC belt one day, it’s going to happen. It’s inevitable. It’s an achievement and an accolade that I would love to have under my belt. Being champ-champ there as well.
Maybe, I get that [Michael] Chandler red carpet treatment, come in and beat somebody up in the top three real quick and then go straight into a title fight. Beat [Alexander] Volkanovski up real quick one time, but my dream fight’s [Max] Holloway. That’s the dream fight.”
Do you want to see McKee move to the UFC? Let us know in the comments.
