AJ McKee Talks Bellator 205, James Gallagher’s KO Loss & 145lb Title Aspirations

AJ McKee is back in the main event at Bellator 205, facing late replacement John Teixeira in a featherweight division encounter.

James Gallagher, a longtime rival of McKee’s, recently suffered his first professional MMA loss at Bellator 204 and McKee finds the whole situation irrelevant.

“Man, my phone wouldn’t stop blowing up. It got to the point where between my phone and my Instagram, I’m going crazy and I had to block the dude. Its irrelevant to me at this point, I have nothing to say. The proof is in the pudding, if you’re gonna keep that 0 on the record…you’ve got to want to put in that work and know and be prepared at all times. When you step into that cage, we don’t just have punches to worry about. We have elbows, kicks, submissions…so there’s a lot to worry about in there. You got to go in there with You’re a game at all times,” says McKee in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.

It is unlikely that the two rivals will meet in the cage anytime soon, as McKee competes at featherweight and Gallagher recently dropped to bantamweight.

As McKee continues on in the MMA game, one things he wants to keep doing is growing as a fighter and in life.

“I mean…there’s a difference, my dad will always tell me that I struggle with the weight cut a little bit. The more that I start to do things right, my weight cuts are getting easier. Its staying ready so you don’t have to get ready, that makes a big difference and I feel that being older and getting wisdom and just being around the game and learning a lot more. There’s a lot of things you can teach younger guys and just kind of help them out and be their support when guys don’t have that support, I’m learning a lot from my dad…from my teammates…from everyone. That’s just the whole thing about growth, wherever you are at in any aspect of life…your gonna want growth. That’s the name of the game,” says McKee.

Bellator 205 takes place on Friday, September 21 from the Century Link Arena in Boise, Idaho with AJ McKee and John Teixeira headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on the Paramount Network.