AJ McKee proved tonight why he may just be the best fighter in the world – in and out of the cage.
The renowned featherweight contender is on the warpath for PFL’s vacant 145lb title, and cemented himself atop the division with a dominant three-round beatdown of Salamat Isbulaev. Heading into the night’s show, Isbulaev had never tasted defeat in ten professional bouts.
And if his performance inside the cage wasn’t enough to impress fans, he wowed with a stunning ring walk. OT Genasis performed his hit ‘Everybody Mad’ as McKee made it rain dollar bills, and it appears that the pair’s relationship runs deeper than many initially knew.
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AJ McKee reveals how OT Genasis helped him to reach his potential
AJ McKee was a true homegrown Bellator talent. His entire professional career from debut to the promotion’s end came inside their cage, and he even managed to fight on the same card as his legendary dad Antonio McKee.
He has been in the spotlight since his debut, and at times struggled to manage a celebrity lifestyle. However, he told Bloody Elbow tonight that it was actually OT Genasis who helped him to stay on the straight and narrow by keeping him away from embracing a party lifestyle too much.
“That’s my brother,” McKee said of the musician. “Before I was ‘The Mercenary’ and the best fighter in the world I had a group of friends who trusted in me before I even knew who I was and they knew what I was capable of and pushed me to do better.
“Whether I was out at the clubs drinking or whatever they’d be the ones saying ‘hey, you’re the best fighter in the world don’t be out doing this’. I’ve been a few years sober and it was only two or three months ago I had a beer for the first time.
“I used to drink five bottles of Casamigos a night being f—ing stupid. He would be like ‘you’re the best in the world, don’t do that’… He trusted in me beyond whatever we thought possible and never asked for anything.
“We’d go to the club and get a $43,000 table and he’d hit me up ‘come chill’. He showed me who I was before I even knew who I was. Those are real friends, even in the midst of all that they pushed me to be the best that I can be.
“Old AJ used to be a hot head, but I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser. And he would always tell me ‘don’t be like us, you’re on a different path, you’re always going to be the homie, we’re here, we ain’t going nowhere’. So it’s always love with them.”