AJ McKee has challenged Nate Diaz to meet him in the cage and settle bad blood between their groups. With Diaz’s relationship with the UFC in constant flux, a jump to Bellator for a grudge match against its biggest homegrown star could be huge for Scott Coker’s promotion.
McKee and Anthony Taylor got into a backstage scuffle with Diaz, Chris Avila and company at the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley 2 event in December. McKee, the reigning Bellator featherweight champion, elaborated on how the altercation escalated.
“I don’t know how it all started with Anthony but, at the end of the day, Anthony will not be touched in my presence. Period. You know what I mean? If I’m with any of my boys, if somebody has an issue, none of my boys are going to be touched in my presence,” McKee told CBS Sports. “I mean, if they catch Ant on the street and beat him up, I’m not going to come and find Nate. But while I’m standing there, he won’t be touched. I don’t care if it’s Chris Avila, Nate Diaz or anyone else. He’s not going to be touched.
“I have my 4-year-old brother with me too, on top of it all. So you know I’m not looking for trouble unless trouble needs to be got. In that situation, he tried to sneak around and get to Anthony. My boy Rhys wasn’t having it. He squared up. I saw someone square up with him. At that point, I mean, hey, when people are squaring up you know what comes after square up — punches get thrown.”
Check out the full interview with AJ McKee below.
McKee (18-0) suggests he and Diaz (20-13) step up for their respective camps and lay the bad blood to rest.
“Things just escalated a little quickly. Nate has one fight left. I have however many left. But I don’t really care. If we have an issue, at the end of the day, we can let these [fists] do the problem solving for me,” McKee said. “He comes from that era. I come from watching that era and growing up in that era. We ain’t gotta do all this and all that. If we have really issues let’s let these do the handling. So far it’s 1-1 with Chris Avila and Anthony. I think Nate and I need to go ahead and squash the beef as head honchos. Let us get it on and pop it one time and see what it is. I know what it is but I think he needs to see what it is and feel what it is so that he can know.
“I don’t care what weight class. 150, 170. I walk around 160, 165 right now. Tell me 170 and see what I come back with.”