HONOLULU – A.J. McKee recognizes MMA is a business. And in the eyes of the 24-year-old fighter, managers don’t fit his business model.
At Bellator 236 on Saturday, McKee (15-0 MMA, 15-0 BMMA) takes on Derek Campos (20-9 MMA, 9-7 BMMA) in the card’s co-main event. The fight is one of four quarterfinal matchups of Bellator’s $1 million featherweight grand prix.
Ahead of the fight, McKee spoke with MMA Junkie and explained why he doesn’t like the current landscape in MMA management.
“I kind of reach out and do things on my own,” McKee said. “With mixed martial arts being such a new sport and managers not really being real managers as if it was the NFL or football, it’s just such an early on sport that it hasn’t really been established for real, real managers. Yeah, there’s a few companies out there that have reached out. (We’ve) talked.”
McKee noted one issue in particular: the idea of managers taking a percentage of a fighter’s fight purse. Sponsors are one thing, but the fights themselves? No way, said McKee.
“One thing I’ve always been against is giving up a percentage of my fight purse. Why? Because that’s my hard-earned work money,” McKee said. “At the end of the day, there’s no retirement plans, no pensions.”
Bellator 236 takes place Saturday at Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
Check out MMA Junkie’s full pre-fight interview with A.J. McKee in the video above.
