A.J. McKee Rather Retire Than Fight Friend Aaron Pico

A.J. McKee and Aaron Pico are two of the most talented young prospects in Bellator MMA’s featherweight division. McKee is currently undefeated in his mixed martial arts career with a record of 12-0. As for Pico, since losing his MMA debut, he has been perfect with a four-fight win streak. Pico’s record sits at 4-1, and he has finished all of his victories in the first round.

McKee and Pico train together at Team Bodyshop under McKee’s father, Antonio. Pico credits Antonio McKee for his resurgence in his career after dropping his professional debut. Not to mention, Pico and McKee are close friends who grew up together, attending family barbeques and trips. However, if they each continue to run through the featherweight division, they’ll inevitably find themselves standing across the cage from one another one day.

McKee said that he’d rather retire than face his good friend and training partner:

“I can’t lose a friend and a brother over some money, over entertainment,” McKee said. “If it’s that serious for you, and you want that limelight, you can have it. Because it’s not that serious for me.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll both be taken care of – more than – financially at that point, where we wouldn’t even have to be in the area to fight for that much money. I’m OK. It’s not that serious. I’ve known Pico since we were about 5 years old. We were kids running around tearing (expletive) up together.

“… If we were to ever even decide, it would probably be the last fight of our career. It would probably be some trillion-dollar (expletive) fight that everyone was going to see. And we would ask for a trillion dollars each, because that’s what we agreed on, but I would never want to fight him.

“I would honestly rather retire than fight my brother and my friend like that. Because why would I want to inflict pain upon a brother? I don’t know, I’m not like that.”