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PFL’s A.J. McKee in the business of being the best

March 19, 2026

A.J. McKee has no problem offering his opinion as fact when it comes to MMA’s 145-pound division.

“I’m the best in the world,” he said.

Though possibly and understandably biased, Antonio McKee, with nearly 40 professional MMA fights under his belt and having cornered scores of fighters, will tell you the same about his son.

“No fighter in the world, 145-pounder, there’s nobody gonna beat him,” the older McKee said.

The father-and-son duo look to keep drumming that message as A.J. McKee continues his return to the featherweight division to reclaim gold in what is viewed as a title contender fight against Adam Borics in the co-main event at PFL Madrid on Friday in Spain.

A.J. McKee trains Feb. 27, 2026, at Metroflex Gym in Hawaiian Gardens. McKee will take on Adam Borics on March 20 in Spain as he continues his pursuit to win the PFL featherweight title. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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Part of being the best is realizing that it comes down to business. A.J. McKee says every day in the gym he gets asked about the UFC, the world’s premier MMA organization. And every day, the former Bellator champ has the same reply.

“So? Food, food, table, eat, eat,” the Long Beach Poly grad and former wrestling star said.

Don’t shed a tear for McKee over his finances – he says he and his father have done well with investments and properties. McKee (23-2) has had opportunities to leave Bellator and PFL, but being a UFC fighter doesn’t interest him if the prestige and paycheck don’t align.

“Why would I take a pay cut to go fight what you guys say is higher competition?” asked McKee, who will be 31 next month.

Antonio McKee’s rationale is simple: His son is a business, so he runs it like a business. No emotions attached, nothing personal.

“I look at it as a company. And in this company, there’s people that depend on us employees, and you don’t want to let these guys down,” Antonio McKee said in between coaching his son during a recent session at Metroflex Gym in Hawaiian Gardens.

“So that’s the way I look at it personally, just the business. I learned from the UFC. They got the best business model I’ve ever seen. So I run mine the same way. Game respect game.”

At one point, A.J. McKee’s game reached new heights. In 2021, he won Bellator’s $1 million Bellator World Featherweight Grand Prix by dethroning champion Patricio Pitbull with a first-round submission at the Kia Forum.

Eight months later, he suffered his first loss, with Pitbull winning the belt back via unanimous decision in San Jose, sparking McKee’s move up to lightweight.

But at 155 pounds, McKee found a different game. Not only could he not pack on the pounds – “I’m eating chicken parmesan, blueberry banana pancakes every day, like I’m eating everything, and I couldn’t put the weight on to save myself,” he said – he was dealing with a newfound physicality.

He went 4-1 with one finish as a lightweight, his last fight at 155 pounds being a split-decision loss to Irish wunderkind Paul Hughes in October 2024. McKee went into the fight with a shoulder injury, got dropped with a massive right hook late in the first round and never fully recovered.

“That was something I’ve never felt before. So being able to know, ‘All right, you have two more rounds and you’re already depleted. Like, what are you gonna do?’ So it’s survive and try to look for the right opportunity to finish him,” McKee said.

“It’s one of those things. You just kind of take it on the chin, move forward from it. Like I said, at the end of the day, now I’m a businessman. It’s not about being undefeated or records. Now, I look at myself as a business and I got to do what is smart for the business, and I think smart for the business is at 145.”

In July, McKee returned to featherweight and took on Akhmed Magomedov, one of many disciples of former UFC great Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Not only was McKee victorious, he beat the Dagestani fighter at his own game – taking him down and outwrestling him, a feather in his cap in addition to getting his hand raised.

“I think dropping back down to 145 and feeling the difference in the weight, he felt small. Everything I did, I just felt so much more powerful, which I kind of like, because I always felt bigger, faster, stronger than everyone,” McKee said. “To go from fighting at a higher weight and then coming back down, it just really solidified it in my mind. Like I don’t care who it is, these dudes have nothing for me, and it’s me versus me. How bad do I want it, and am I willing to go?”

In his second fight in his return to featherweight, McKee will encounter another longtime 145-pounder. Borics (20-3) hails from Hungary and trains in Florida. The 32-year-old has split his last four fights and is coming off a majority-decision victory over Jeremy Kennedy in June.

McKee recognizes Borics’ kickboxing background and toughness in what feels like a fight that was destined to happen.

“I think we both have had each other on each other’s radar and have kind of anticipated it for years,” McKee said. “You know, we were both young up-and-comers to where now we’re both seasoned vets. It’s time for us to fight. I think the respect is there between each other, but at the end of the day, we both know that we have a job to do.

“And I’m gonna tell him, even when we go face to face, like, ‘I respect you. But brother, I have to show everyone I’m the best 145-pounder in the world.’”

PFL Madrid

Main event: Middleweight champion Costello van Steenis vs. Fabian Edwards

Co-main event: A.J. McKee vs. Adam Borics

When: Friday

Where: Palacio Vistalegre, Madrid

How to watch: ESPN+ (prelims 10 a.m., main card 1 p.m.)

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