Antonio McKee and Maurice Smith, Two Great Fighters, One May Never Get His Chance and the Other Has Been Erased from UFC History, Racism?

Didn’t really read it yet. Just wanted to post the first comment. okay, I’mma read now.

It is worth mentioning that Mckee has openly said that he’s “a conspiracy kind of guy”….

but yes, it’s not only time for him to be in the big league, it’s wayyyyyyyyy overdue.

Why not Strikeforce?

Why invest in time and money in promoting a 40 year old guy who, despite what he said, has beat absolutely no one of note in the past 7 years? Strikeforce would make sense. The UFC? Hell no. Comparing him to Maynard or Edgar is an insult to those 2 guys, IMO.

I’ve fought some of the best, but do we say they’re the best just because they came from the UFC?

Many people feels that Fighter A is better than Fighter B because Fighter A competes in the UFC. Then I turn around and watch Jake Shields dominate Dan Henderson . . . the only other middleweight to do that was the current MW champion.

While the contribution to the sport made by that performance by Maurice Smith against Coleman was great, it was still only one fight.. And that fight was really the only fight of significance he had in the UFC. He beat up Tank Abbott and then lost to Randy and Randleman. His win over Ruas was some sort of weird accident and then his only other win was a decision over Bobby Hoffman.

It’s not really hard to see why he isn’t in the UFC Hall of Fame.

Not having Mo Smith in the UFC Hall of Fame really discredits it

1-Racism exists, but is overused as an excuse

2-HOFs are greatly watered down. They should be for the very best of the best. Not just a great story, or someone who was great for a very short period of time. That said, personal beefs such as crossing Dana, fighting for another org, or having bad realtionships with the media, should not exclude a guy from any HOF.

If you’re going to put Maurice Smith into the UFC Hall of Fame you have to put in Bas Rutten before him. He also won the UFC heavyweight belt by defeating a powerhouse wrestler and was doing what Maurice Smith was doing, better and before him.

I for one think the Hall of Fame should be left to an outside organization or something like Fighters Only Magazine, so that they can announce new arrivals each year at an awards ceremony and have the focus on all of MMA and not just the UFC.

So he is saying that he doesn’t make enough money to buy growth hormone so that is why he is the lw division? What does he mean there is no other place to go than UFC? Wargods man wargods.

(1) McKee has definitely done enough work to warrant a shot in the big leagues, but that doesn’t mean that his non-signing is some gross injustice. The guy is upwards of 40, is notoriously one of the most boring fighters in MMA, and hasn’t beaten anyone of note. The comparison to guys like Fitch and Maynard is unfair to those men. While Fitch and Maynard also consistently go to decisions, they do so against some of the very best in the world, while McKee does it against middling fighters.

(2) Smith no doubt played a large role in the early part of the UFC, but I think it’s clear that his career in MMA and the UFC isn’t nearly as impressive as the current crop of Hall of Famers. Sure, he beat Coleman, a hall of famer, but Coleman was also the first UFC heavyweight champ, a guy who won two UFC one-night tourneys, and won a PRIDE Grand Prix. Despite Smith’s win over Coleman, his career in MMA isn’t nearly as impressive.

Strikeforce has a good LW division that could definitely use another high level challenger. In my opinion Strikeforce is a much better fit for McKee. They would probably be willing to give him fights leading up to a title shot, whereas in the UFC I can only see him being used as a gatekeeper to test new fighters.

I loved this perspective…

I watched Rampage [Quinton Jackson] knock out Chuck Liddell and we got bottles thrown at us and we got booed. I watched Rampage lose to Forrest Griffin, who comes from The Ultimate Fighter show where there’s a lot of sponsorship and marketing going on, in a decision he shouldn’t have lost and should have had a rematch. But instead I watched Shogun [Mauricio Rua] kick the [expletive] out of [Lyoto] Machida, and because it wasn’t a fair decision, I watched them come back and do a rematch. I watched B.J. Penn get beat by a guy [Frankie Edgar]. They didn’t like that so they brought him back and he got his ass kicked again.

… As I’ve asked myself the same question repeatedly on this blog.

I’m not saying that this is racist and I don’t believe that’s where McKee is coming from. I think that he is passionate about this idea of favoritism or patronage in the UFC because the “network” does not exist for fighters/promoters of color.

I understand that this is a business, but perhaps there aren’t enough promoters advocatiing for top fights with black fighters.

Just a thought… (Don’t crucify me)

If you want him to beat someone of note, let him fight someone who many people think has name value and great athletic ability. Most of those guys are in the UFC. I’m not saying he will destroy everyone in his path, but if he isn’t given the chance why say he’s not good enough to be in the big leagues?

Point 1, his record) McKee has 2 good wins out of 25 in his entire career, Toby Imada and Marcus Aurelio. He’s faced very low caliber opponents and has not been able to finish them for the vast majority of his time spent in the cage/ring. Just briefly clicking on the names of people he’s fought and you see records like 5-4-2, 19-10, 12-12, 23-23-2, 13-13, 7-7, 13-15-1. These are career minor leaguers and he is not of the caliber that he can dominate them to the point where he can take it out of the hands of the judges. There have been tons of fighters outside of the UFC that he could have fought in his career to make a bigger name.

Point 2, the UFC) Unless I’m remembering wrong, the UFC offered him a contract once and he turned it down. Either the $ wasn’t up to snuff, or the story I recall is that he wasn’t getting an immediate title shot. Either way he has way too high of an opinion of himself. If, and again, we don’t really know all the details from both sides of the negotiations, if any of that is accurate, then McKee has no one to blame but himself.

Point 3, Rampage/Griffin and other accusations of racism) Page lost a close fight, but nowhere on the level of Shogun/Machida. Did he get an immediate rematch? No, but he got one tune-up fight against Jardine (which he almost lost) and then was offered the shot at the belt. He had to turn it down to get surgery on his face. After that, he was promptly booked on TUF against another black fighter, Evans, which raised both of their profiles tremendously, made them both a lot of money and got them to headline a PPV that had the best buyrates either man ever had. Racism in the UFC is questionable at best considering things like Page/Suge on TUF, the person White touts as the best fighter on the planet, Anderson Silva is a black man from Brazil and the number one prospect, Bones Jones is also black. Give me a break.

he’s black?

or is it because a few days after he lost he fasted on nothing but energy drinks, went crazy, and got arrested at gunpoint? might that have something to do with it?

i like antonio mckee, i really do. but there are some serious gaps in his logic on some of this stuff.

The R word.

before McKee’s record got really impressive, so that it was impossible to ignore despite his boring style, he was already super old.

Having said that, the UFC should immediately sign him. Why the hell not? I think he’s actually a marketable guy as “the old dude finally getting his chance.”

Bottom line is he’s earned his shot. People should get what they earn – it’s what distinguishes "sports’ from “sports entertainment.”

“It’s time for Antonio McKee to get his shot at the big time”

He’s the wrong side of 40, has a completely unmarketable style and – from Dana’s perspective – spends his interviews being a troublemaker. Don’t count on ever seeing him in the Octagon.