Dana White weighs in on Bellator champ A.J. McKee, says he'll make good on years' old lunch bet

UFC president Dana White says he’ll be a man of his word.

When A.J. McKee defeated long-reigning Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire by first-round technical submission in the Bellator 263 main event on Saturday, he also came out victorious in a bet he made with White over a decade ago.

White admits he didn’t watch any fights this past weekend – not even UFC on ESPN 28 – while on vacation, so he couldn’t analyze the performance of the newest Bellator champion. Though he indicated he didn’t remember making a bet with the then-13-year-old McKee, White said he’ll make good on it.

McKee (18-0 MMA, 18-0 BMMA) revealed in a 2020 interview with MMA Junkie Radio how he met White 13 years ago. When he told White of his plans to become world champion, the UFC president told him he’d buy him lunch if it one day happened.

“That’s awesome,” White told UFC Arabia on Tuesday. “Well, if I said it, I’ll keep my word, and I will buy him lunch. No, I haven’t seen (his win at Bellator 263). I didn’t even see our fight on Saturday, unfortunately. I haven’t seen his, but good for him. That’s an awesome story.”

I asked Dana White about A.J. McKee’s bet that he will become world champion and how White would owe him lunch if he fulfilled his goal.

Full interview for @UFCarabia coming soon. pic.twitter.com/gTCE0Dj3Az

— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) August 3, 2021

In a separate interview with TSN, White reacted to McKee’s callouts of the UFC’s top featherweights, including champion Alexander Volkanovski, former champ Max Holloway and Brian Ortega.

“I don’t know. We’ll see,” White said. “When his contract is up, he’ll have to call. We’ll see what we can do.”

McKee, 26, has competed only for Bellator MMA at the professional level. Despite being locked in a contract with Bellator, McKee has never ruled out a possible future move to the UFC.

That didn’t change with his title status as he invited any featherweight – or promotion – in the world to take him on in a cross-promotion fight. If the stakes need to be upped, McKee added he’ll be willing to bet $1 million on himself.

In addition to his $1 million bonus-earning, title win over Freire, McKee holds wins over former Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell and former Bellator featherweight champion Pat Curran, among others.