VERONA, N.Y. — A.J. McKee struggled for the first time all night. Blair Tugman’s chokehold tightened as his undefeated opponents head sank deeper into the veteran’s bicep.

“Hold it!” a ringside fan yelled as the crowd’s volume reached its highest decibels of the night.

The 22-year-old eventually slipped out of the hold and finished the fight at Turning Stone Resort Casino Friday night off like he had his previous eight, with a victory. Mckee’s (9-0) victory over Tugman (10-7) marked his ninth in a row, tying him for most consecutive wins in Bellator history. The fight ended in a unanimous decision, marking only the third time the Long Beach, California, native has had to go the distance.

“I see a lot of things we need to work on but overall he did good,” said McKee’s father Antonio, who is also his trainer. “He messed his hand up in the second round and we knew that was a problem but he kept his composure.”

Several hours before the bout, McKee stood in a matching army green jumpsuit alongside his father, Antonio. The two yelled out tactics to Joey Davis, a fellow member of the BodyShop Fitness team inside a nearly empty Turning Stone Resort Casino.

“Keep your hips down,” Antonio said.

Davis pressed down hard against his opponent, Justin Roswell, and connected a crushing elbow. He landed several more punches and the fight was called. Technical knockout due to excessive blows less than two minutes into the first round gave the unmarked Davis the win to open the undercard of Bellator 182.

A golf clap accompanied his teammates victory as McKee calmly sipped water and exited down the tunnel. The opening act for his fight proceeded.

As the lights dimmed and the crowd filled the walkout towards the cage a custom walk-up song with McKee’s name in the lyrics blared through the speakers. Bellator 182 was live on SpikeTV.

McKee found himself in a familiar position early in the fight. Antonio yelled, this time for his son, to keep his hips pressed down. But it didn’t garner the same results it had hours before with Davis. Tugman worked his way out of a McKee headlock and back on his feet where McKee stood arms extended and waving his hands in taunting his opponent.

The crowd erupted in applause and the bell rang signaling the end of round 1. McKee sipped water from Antonio as the fight went to commercial break.

McKee injured his left hand in the middle of the second round. He was unavailable for post-fight comments as he was in the hospital due to the injury.

While McKee’s hand ached in pain his opponents flesh slowly flowed out from between his eyebrow. McKee combined a left kick and jab punch before falling back to defend. Moments later, he shot low for a takedown similar to the one which previously landed him in a headlock.  

This time, his elbow smacked the already wounded skull of Tugman. A blood puddle formed to the left of the Monster Energy sign on the mat. The wooden sticks clanged together as McKee threw his final exchanges.

The young star’s face flashed across the big screen in a Dave and Busters add as the crowd awaited the decision. The television screen shifted back to the cage and McKee’s victory announced. His personal ode boomed over the crowd noise once again as the fighter left the cage unmarked.

Published on August 26, 2017 at 10:21 am

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44