Antonio McKee wants to fight on same Bellator card as son A.J. McKee

Antonio McKee wants to make a bit of history for a major MMA organization before he retires from competition for good.

That history? Compete on the same card as his undefeated son, featherweight prospect A.J. McKee.

Japan’s Rizin FF recently hosted an event in which a mother and son shared the card. It wasn’t as high profile as it would be for McKee, a 16-year veteran and former UFC/WSOF/IFL fighter who’s more of a known commodity.

McKee (29-6-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) hasn’t had a pro bout since November 2014 and has spent most of his time in recent years training his son A.J. (5-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA), along with other up-and-comers such as Ed Davis and Kevin “Baby Slice” Ferguson Jr. All those days in the gym grooming younger athletes has given McKee the itch for competition, he said, and “Mandingo” expressed a desire to not only join his son on the Bellator roster, but also line up the same fight date.

“I would like to see father and son fight on the same card,” McKee told MMAjunkie. “I think that would be awesome. Have him be able to corner me, and I’ll corner him. I’m a veteran of the game. I’m not nervous. He’s not nervous. He’s not ring shy. He’s natural at being in the cage. You’ve seen his performances. He fights to finish, unlike how I did. He inspired me to want to finish fights. He’s real in this.”

Whether Bellator considers the request remains to be seen, but there could be plenty of opportunities to make it happen since A.J. has been very active since his April 2015 debut. He’s already racked up a 5-0 record (all first-round finishes) and looks to add a sixth consecutive win to his resume when he meets Emmanuel Sanchez (13-3) at Bellator 166, which takes place Dec. 2 at Winstar World Casino & Resort in Thackerville, Okla. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.

Sanchez will be the toughest test yet for “Mercenary,” but the elder McKee doesn’t envision his son encountering many problems. He already views his 21-year-old son as a championship-level fighter who could give Bellator’s 145-pound champ, Daniel Straus (25-6 MMA, 11-3 BMMA), a run for his money.

“I’ll be honest: If he fought Straus now, Straus would not be able to beat him,” Antonio McKee said. “A.J. is different. We’ve seen his fights. He ends them all in the first round. Each level he steps up higher and higher.”

McKee said he was largely ready to move on from competition and settle into a coaching role before his passion was reenergized by his son’s success. During his fighting career, McKee said he faced an overwhelming amount pressure and responsibility to provide for both himself and his family, which drained some of the joy from the process of training and fighting.

He said that’s all gone now, though, and he’s able to enjoy life. At 46, though, the window to fulfill his new goal of getting another fight, and doing it on the same card as his son, is seemingly shrinking. So if it’s ever going to happen, McKee said now is the time.

“There’s no pressure on me,” he said. “Before I was coaching, (I was) a dad, a trainer, a mentor and a teacher. I was running a business, then another business, and then at the same time taking care of my family. It was a lot of work. It’s so good to be free from that and focus on one thing, and that’s fighting.

“Bellator is a great organization,” he continued. “I would rather fight for less money and be able to work with my boss than make a lot of money and go to work wanting to kill my boss. I like what Bellator is doing.”

For more on Bellator 166, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.