A.J. McKee: 'I'm hands down the best featherweight in the world'
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A.J. McKee doesn't think he had a perfect performance Saturday, but it won't deter where he thinks he falls in the world MMA featherweight pecking order.
McKee (25-2) handed Salamat Isbulaev (10-1) the first loss of his career with a unanimous decision in the PFL San Diego headliner at Pechanga Arena, not too far south of McKee's home base in Long Beach, Calif. He took a trio of 30-27 scores from the judges for the sweep and his third straight win.
The former Bellator champion has won seven of eight fights since he lost that belt back to the man he took it from, Patricio Freire, who now is in the UFC. Six of those seven wins have been by decision, including the past three straight in about 11 months' time.
"The fight started at a slower pace, from my perspective," McKee said at his post-fight news conference. "He was fast and throwing some heat. I was able to avoid his punches, but I couldn't really put it together on the feet. That's the blessing of having such a wide variety of skills: You can rely on other areas.
"Once I got him down, I thought, 'This is easy. This is where I want to be.' I took him down and drowned him. After the first round, I saw him sitting on the floor and thought, 'I've got him.'"
McKee has been back at 145 pounds the past three fights. After he lost to Freire in 2022, he moved to lightweight. After a 4-0 start in that division, he was upset by Paul Hughes in 2024. After that, starting 11 months ago, it was back to featherweight.
And so far, the results have been perfect.
"I feel like I'm hands down the best featherweight in the world," McKee said. "In my eyes, I've never lost a fight at 145 pounds. PFL has the baddest 145-pound fighter on the planet, and anybody willing to test that can put their money where their mouth is and we'll see what's up."
Should that be for a title? The PFL currently has not handed out a title at 145 pounds in its new iteration after years of trying the season format.
So perhaps McKee could fight Alexander Shabliy (25-4) for that belt after the latter's win in San Diego?
"I'm down to fight anybody," McKee said. "Shabliy and I are cool. We've exchanged words here and there to help sell the show and talked a little trash on Instagram, but when we see each other it's all respect. I love his skill set. He's been doing big things. We were even looking at fighting each other at lightweight before the loss to Paul Hughes and some other things happened.
"I just wanted to remind everybody who the best featherweight in the world is. That's why I made the move back to featherweight."
But title or not, McKee said he'll just live up to his nicknamne.
"At the end of the day, I'm the 'Mercenary': You call me when you need a job done," he said. "My focus is on one thing only, and that's being the best in the world. Being a champion comes with that. That's where my focus stays, and until they decide I'm ready for that opportunity, I'm going to keep doing what I do best — kick ass and take names.
"… (I have) no names – just a number: No. 1. If I'm No. 2, then No. 1 is ahead of me, and he's got to go."
Check out McKee's post-fight news conference above (H/T Home of Fight)
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: A.J. McKee: 'I'm hands down the best featherweight in the world'