“I’ve had 16 decisions and I think this will be my 23rd fight in the UFC — and I count the four fights that I had on The Ultimate Fighter because all them dudes fought in the UFC,” said McGee, who faced Nick Ring, James Hammortree, and Brad Tavares on the way to the TUF 11 Finale, where he submitted McCray before delivering a memorable, teary-eyed address following his victory. “I think that I have that maturity and the confidence, plus I’m not forced to go in there and fight right now because I’m not running out of money.
“I’m part-owner of a gym now, I have the speaking and The McGee Project, plus I get to help kids and work with people that struggle with addiction. My recovery is strong. I have guys that I shepherd through a 12-step program. I’m active in my sons’ wrestling life.
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“I’m happy and I feel good about what I’m doing. I have something pushing me saying, ‘Hey man, you’re not done yet.’”
There have been many times in his lengthy career where McGee has been forced to ask himself if he wanted to continue competing.
After fighting three times in 2013, he missed the next two years, laid up as a result of multiple wrist surgeries before returning and registering a unanimous decision victory over Marcio Alexandre Jr. at UFC 194 on his 31st birthday. He’s watched multiple training partners navigate the whole of their careers and move on to the next stage of life, and had a front row seat to see several different high-impact fighters burst onto the scene, take the sport by storm, and then fade out, all while he’s been plugging away.
Along the way, he’s continued to check in with himself, measuring his internal drive and desire, and while there have been more than a few moments where he’s wondered if he was simply fooling himself into believing he could still compete at this level, his most recent result shows he absolutely still can.
“In that fight, I was like, ‘I don’t care. I’m throwing caution to the wind,’” he said of his May meeting with Claudio Silva, where he earned a dominant unanimous decision victory to snap a three-fight slide. “I didn’t care that he was an IBJFF world champion and a world-class grappler — I’m a world-class grappler; I just stopped competing in grappling because I pursued a career in the UFC.