‘It was Just Part of His Destiny’

LOS ANGELES—Five years from now, how much better can A.J. McKee be than he is today?

“That’s a good question,” the new Bellator MMA featherweight champion said after he finished Patricio Freire in the Bellator 263 headliner on Saturday in Inglewood, California. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Keep reaching new plateaus. Stay in the gym. I’ll be in the gym Monday. No days off.”

At 26, the next-generation Bellator champion has just begun to show the full scope of his talent. Entering the physical prime of his career, McKee is already well ahead of the curve in every phase; and as his father and trainer Antonio always says, we haven’t even seen the kid wrestle, but if he…