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Antonio "Mandingo" McKee
Mixed Martial Artist
"Mandingo" began wrestling at the age of 14 and quickly found his niche, competing with the likes of Dan Henderson, Heath Sims and John Smith. It was 10 years later when he was asked to participate in his first MMA match, which resulted in a win over Shannon Ritch.
Antonio is also credited with having an elite MMA training center Bodyshop Fitness in Lakewood, CA where fighters such as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and the former Tokyo Sabres team have trained.
Antonio Mckee is currently in production on his new reality show "Fight School TV."
What can be considered as one of McKee's most important fights, came at MFC 20 where he won the MFC Lightweight Championship by defeating Derrick Noble by unanimous decision (49-46 on all three of the judge’s scorecards). He was expected to defend his title against the last PFC Lightweight Champion and former WEC Welterweight title contender Carlo Prater at MFC 22: Payoff, but due to Prater's inability to make weight that title was not on the line. McKee defeated Prater due to a not all that eventful unanimous decision.
McKee came under a lot of scrutiny for his fighting style before his next title defense at MFC 26: Retribution, as many stated he just coasted his way through the fights through dominant position, rather than attempting to inflict damage on his opponents. McKee even stated that if he did not finish his opponent Luciano Azevedo, he would retire from the sport. McKee punished Azevedo with a wicked slam and then proceeded to demolish him with relentless ground-and-pound. Two devastating elbows strikes carved a huge gash in Azevedo's forehead and a after a brief check by the ringside physician, referee Frank Geric waved the fight to a rightful stoppage just 3:11 into the opening stanza.
"Whoever the MFC puts in front of me next, I'll whoop their ass too," said McKee, post-fight. "I guess it's not true - you can teach an old dog new tricks. And I want to thank (HDNet commentator) Guy Mezger for bringing the best out of me." |
