Jeff Sherwood over at Sherdog.com grabbed an interview with former IFL fighter Antonio McKee this afternoon on the Savage Dog Show on the Sherdog Radio Network. During the interview, McKee revealed that there has been some discussion that he will be taking on Takanori Gomi toward the end of October. While this is obviously a rumor, I wouldn't be surprised if McKee is pulling one over us. But I'm definitely interested in seeing McKee take on some better competition, even if he's nearly 40 years old.

Other interesting tidbits from the interview included McKee's view of his own fighting style. His interview with Jordan Breen in February was fairly controversial and upsetting to many fans because McKee stated that he doesn't really care about the fans:

Unfortunately my style of fighting is not really what a lot of fans choose to see.  But, you know, it's the smart way to go at my age and, not only that, if you can't stop what I do than it's kind of hard for me to stop doing it.

McKee's conveyed the same sentiments in his interview, but he has stated that if he were paid more... he would be a more exciting fighter because he knows he'll take some damage if he tries to be more exciting. He talked about how he's been working to improve his submission game in order to finish opponents, and he's specifically stated he won two divisions at the U.S. Open BJJ tournament with four submissions.

McKee's major point that I found quite interesting was how the sport is still in the gray area between the WWE and being an actual sport because of the entertainment factor. He talked about how the NFL and NBA are sports, but also entertainment -- yet athletes in those sports aren't allowed to showboat excessively. The interesting part I found from his comments were that McKee simply fights to win and be the best at what he does. He does not care about the entertainment factor to any degree, but seeks "perfection". Perfection for McKee is taking hardly any damage and dominating his opponent.

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Before you hit the local pub with friends or hit the hay to enjoy an early Saturday morning being dragged to the Farmer's Market by your significant other, wouldn't you like to spy some solid regional mixed martial arts action? Friday nights aren't normally a mecca for MMA action, but Maximum Fighting Championships has put together an impressive card filled with former UFC talents that should feed your appetite.

MFC 22: Payoff will take place on Friday, October 2nd from the River Cree Resort and Casino in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The card will feature a main event middleweight clash between former UFC fighters Jason MacDonald (21-12) and Travis Lutter (9-5), and a MFC Lightweight Championship bout between IFL veteran Antonio McKee (22-3-2) and WEC veteran Carlo Prater (24-6-1). The card will also feature former UFC fighters Luigi Fioravanti, John Alessio, Marvin Eastman, Pete Spratt, David Heath, and Mike Nickels. The event will air LIVE on HDNet at 10 P.M. EST featuring "The Voice" Michael Schiavello.

The main event match-up between Jason MacDonald and Travis Lutter looks surprisingly like a battle that fans would see in the UFC between struggling fighters trying to continue fighting for the promotion. Both MacDonald and Lutter have faced some of the best competition that the UFC's middleweight division has to offer, but they both have fallen short when facing top fighters. MacDonald fought a total of ten bouts with the UFC, going 5-5 and being cut after losing to Wilson Gouveia and Nate Quarry in first round finishes.



Lutter had previous stints in the UFC at UFC 50, 52, and 54 before his last association with the promotion ended with losses to Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin at UFC 67 and UFC 83 respectively. Lutter is probably most known by the hardcore fans for giving current UFC middleweight champion some real problems on the ground, and that fight is still considered by some fans to be a revealing clue as to how Silva could be beaten one day.

Lutter and MacDonald both fought at UFC 83 with Lutter losing to Franklin and MacDonald defeating Joe Doerksen. MacDonald went on to fight in four more appearances for the promotion while Lutter hasn't fought since. Lutter has had conditioning problems in the past as well, so he'll be combining those two weaknesses against a Jason MacDonald who has fought recently along with having a good conditioning base. Style-wise, Lutter will probably want to take MacDonald down and try to submit him as quickly as possible. MacDonald will look to stuff those takedowns and punish Lutter standing or from top control. In any case, Lutter may have a test of his conditioning in this fight. Hopefully, he's improved that weakness... otherwise he may be in for a long night.

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Here is how the rumored card is looking so far:

Jason MacDonald (21-12) vs Travis Lutter (9-5)


Antonio Mckee (22-3) vs Carlo Prater (24 - 6) [LW MFC Title]


Luigi Fioravanti (15-5) vs John Alessio (25-13)


Ryan Jimmo (10-1) vs Marvin Eastman (16-9-1)


David Heath (12-5) vs Mike Nickels (7-2)


Pete Spratt (19-15) vs Nathan Gunn (7-0)


Thiago Goncalves (13-3) vs Jesse Juarez (11-5)

Live on HDNet Oct 2nd, 2009.