July 1, 2026, 2:30 p.m. ET

For the bulk of his career, up until the past few years, A.J. McKee was a coast-to-coast type fighter.

The California native has fought close to home plenty, but he’s also fought in middle America – shouting you out, Thackerville! – and the East Coast, the Midwest, Hawaii … even Idaho.

But McKee been overseas more often than not recently: Japan, two trips to Saudi Arabia, Cape Town in South Africa, and Madrid earlier this year.

And one thing that seems universal, in his experience, is that the work his father, former UFC fighter Antonio McKee, did before him paved the way for him to continue building the family brand. His latest contribution to the McKee name was a unanimous decision win over Salamat Isbulaev in the PFL San Diego main event Saturday at Pechanga Arena.

“I think the last name McKee (is recognized quickly),” he said at his post-fight news conference (H/T Home of Fight). “I’m the only second-generation fighter that’s in here making noise like this. The last name McKee has reigned in mixed martial arts since the beginning of time. My father was fighting in the ’90s.

“So for me, it’s not a surprise. It’s appreciated that our last name gets the respect that it deserves in this game. We’re not going nowhere. We’re two, three generations deep. (My 9-year-old) little bro (Mason), you see him walking around here same way I was walking around Tapout shows as a kid. This is what we do. We’re here. We’re taking over.”

McKee (25-2) has three straight wins since he moved back to the featherweight division, all decisions under the PFL banner in an 11-month stretch. He regards himself as the world’s best 145-pounder and says he’s never lost a fight in that division. (Officially, the first setback of his career was when he lost the Bellator featherweight title back to Patricio Freire in 2022, and while most analysts and industry people scored the fight for “Pitbull” in a close one, a smattering gave it to McKee – and he no doubt thinks he did enough to retain his belt.)

But he moved to 155 pounds after that, and his five-fight run there ended with a split decision loss to Paul Hughes a little less than two years ago. That meant the return to featherweight probably was a welcome one a year ago and now he thinks he’s on the cusp of a belt again, but in the PFL, which doesn’t currently have 145-pound champion.

If that’s his next fight, he’ll bring the same SoCal hyperlocal energy that is part of his trademark now and that helps fuel him.

But the other thing that’s always fueled McKee is good old-fashioned moolah … paper … scratch … skrilla … cabbage … MONEY. That’s why he had rapper O.T. Genasis with him for a live walkout of his hit “Everybody Mad.”

“It’s a Long Beach thing. ‘Strong Beach’ all the way. We stick together,” McKee said. “Long Beach has produced some of the best athletes, some of the best artists in the world. Long Beach is bred for breeding top-tier quality. It’s something about the lifestyle, coming from nothing and being able to make it out. A lot of people don’t understand it, but the way we work, we come from nothing. We’re not supposed to make it out of where we come from, and all odds are put against us. And we just continue to show up and show out.

“So that song, I’ve enjoyed for so long because I’m addicted to getting the money. I’ve got to get the money. Everybody gets mad when I get the money, so they’re going to try to put whoever, whatever in front of me to stop that from happening. But at the end of the day, if it ain’t money, don’t call my name.”