Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Court McGee on the last fight of his career at UFC 332 Saturday at the Delta Center, His 20+ years of sobriety spanning his entire MMA ca...

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Court McGee on the last fight of his career at UFC 332 Saturday at the Delta Center, His 20+ years of sobriety spanning his entire MMA ca... · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the best
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: inside of your youth. Let's get back to OC from
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Murdoch Chevrolet studio of ESPN 792.1 FM. All right,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: excited for this conversation.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Our next guest, I'll call him a friend of mine.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We started our professional fighting careers around the same time.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: He has extended his about eight years longer than I
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: was able to do with mine. Court McGee, the pride
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of Layton High School and a longtime UFC veteran, will
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: open the card as UFC comes to Salt Lake City
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: at the Delta Center again this weekend. And I'm going
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to let Court speak for himself, but I believe this
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: will be the last time he makes the walk to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the cage.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Court, welcome to the show again. How are you, my friend? Fantastic.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on, Sean. Thanks for having me on.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: So, you know, it's been a long, long road, and
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: you're still at it. On the wrong side of 40 now,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: 41 years of age in a young man's sport and
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: still competing at the very, very highest level.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: How have you done it, Court?
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: I just maintained a regular training schedule and making sure
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I keep healthy, chasing my sons around.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: And you got.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: you got kind of like the full spectrum of kids now, right?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Your son is a college wrestler. You got one in
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: high school.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: You got one. That's a, the caboose is a little
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: bit behind them.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: And three boys, five, he's.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Five in his first year of kindergarten.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: That's amazing. Wild.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: And then second year of college, Isaac, and then crew
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: is a sophomore Mountain View high school.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic. Are you still, are you coaching? Are you
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: helping the wrestling team again? Yep. Yep. I'll coach.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: I believe this is my seventh consecutive year.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: That's fantastic. So, Cord, is this the last one? Have
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you decided you're going to retire in Salt Lake where
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: it all started?
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so when I renegotiated for these last four fights,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I knew I was going to finish my career with
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: the last fight after I had my neck surgery. I
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: wasn't sure if I was going to be able to
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: compete after or if I would have the willingness to,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: because I didn't know how the recovery was going to be, but...
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: I did. I recovered. I finished out my contract and
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: then I said, Hey, listen, I want four more and
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: then I'll be done. So two and a half years ago,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: I knew that this would be my last fight. I
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: just didn't know it would fall in Salt Lake city,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: which is awesome.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, how cool is that?
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Like in this sport, nobody gets a storybook ending in
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a sport like this in combat sports and contact sports.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: The sport is usually done with you before you are
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: done with the sport. And the fact that you get
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to do it, in your hometown. And this is the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: second time, if I'm not mistaken, you fought in the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: UFC here at the Delta center.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Is that right? The first time they came here, you
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: were on the card.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: First time I was, I was, uh, 2016 on their
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: very first UFC fight card in Salt Lake city. And
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: then I fought at UFC three Oh seven against Tim means,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: and then this will be my third fight.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: That's right. I forgot the three Oh seven was also
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: years ago.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: In December, I fought, well, it'll be 19 years in December,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: I fought Jeremy Horn on Worlds Collide.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Dude, I was also on that card. You and Jeremy
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: were the main event. I fought, shout out to Lima Pule,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: wherever you're at now, my friend. Lima Pule, that's.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Right, dude.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I fought Lima Pule for my first, that was a
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: heavyweight title fight, if I'm not mistaken.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I think so, yep. And I was the light heavyweight.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: It wasn't for a title, though. But I was light heavy. No,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: it was my first fight at 185. Oh, was it?
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: My first year of competition.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: By the way, for people who were following, it was
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: called the Ultimate Combat Experience back then. So the prize,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the dubious prize that they offered at the end of
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the year on this big event, this mastermind event, Jeremy
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Horn had already fought for a UFC title.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I think it was in.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Two, like 2008, he had fought for a UFC title
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: or something.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: And yep, it was earlier that year.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: And so they were like, all right, what we're going
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to do is who we, whoever we decide is the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: best fighter, uh, the fighter of the year in the state,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: we're going to allow you to fight Jeremy horn in
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: the main event of our year end event. And, and like,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: it was, it was Ben Fumato. It was me and
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: it was you and, and you had the more impressive wins.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: You were the guy who was most prepared to do it.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And so the prize you got was to fight someone
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: who already had a hundred pro fights and you, that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: was what, like your, your 10th fight or something like that.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: It was my, my sixth or seventh fight. And my
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: first fight was February 2nd, 2007. And this was December.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: 1st, 2007.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah. He had just knocked out Forrest Griffin with
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: a head kick.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: And the fight before that, he submitted Chael Sonnen with
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: a triangle. So wild.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: What a wild time.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: And now, I mean, full circle, you're going to finish
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: your career in at the Delta center, uh, in the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: biggest organization in the world, in a career where you've
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: had an incredible amount of longevity. I mean, you gotta
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: be among the very top in terms of how many
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: times you've competed the years over which you competed. Uh,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Jim Miller is, I think that is number one in
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: that and cowboy Cerrone did it a bunch, but I
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: already asked you how you did it court, but how
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: do you, how do you, how.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Do you feel about it?
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Like, how do you feel about knowing that, you know,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in a, in a sport that is for young men
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and is a sport that is about very, very much
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: about like you burn hot and then you fade away.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: You have been a steady presence. Is this something that.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: you can take pride in? Like, tell me how it
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: feels to be where you're at.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah. I, I mean, number one, I, I am
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: so grateful that my body has held up cause I've
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: been through so many injuries, but I've allowed the time
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: for them to heal. Um, I've stayed consistent in my training.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, part of it too, is I didn't let,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: let myself deter too far. Um, I did experience some
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: burnout in that first year cause I had six or
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: seven fights and like, I was like, Oh my gosh,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I can't keep this up. Um, but I had a
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: bunch of injuries. I took a lot of time off, uh,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: to get those injuries fixed. And so I've been through
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: these ups and downs and then just like, I mean,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: I was on the card with the first female fight
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: in the UFC. I was there. I didn't fight the
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: night that Connor had his debut, but two guys or
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: three of my teammates did. So like I've been through
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: the ups and downs. Um, I like, I couldn't ask, um,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: for a better outcome or a better career and they
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: feel healthy, but I want to continue to feel healthy.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I don't want to write it out too long. And knowing,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: you know, it's like, I had lots of conversations with
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: my wife and then also too, like, I feel good.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: I feel healthy. The gym's going good. Um, I'm not
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: looking too far ahead. You know, it's like, and you know,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: as well as most fighters have competed at a high level,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: it's like every fight could be your last fight. There's
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: fight-ending injuries all the time. And I just feel extremely
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: grateful for the opportunity to finish out my career in
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Salt Lake City. And I'm going out on my terms.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: And I'm so grateful for that.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Court McGee is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Court is fighting on the UFC card this weekend. He
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: is the reason you should buy a ticket and you
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: should get out there and you should make this loud noise.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: For our guy, he is our guy. He is a
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: homegrown product. He is a Utah boy who has represented
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: this state and this martial arts community within the state
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: very well for a very long time in the UFC.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: So get out there and support Court McGee at the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Delta Center for his final career fight.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Court, do you have a favorite fight?
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Is there a high watermark for you in your UFC career?
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Um, my first fight against Seth business, he, to get
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: in the ultimate fighter house, still my toughest fight to memory. Um,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: and then obviously winning the ultimate fighter and then just
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: fighting like some, some, you know, like Carlos Condit fighting
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: that Brown fighting Robert Whitaker, you know, just some of
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: those highlight fights where these guys are just, hold on,
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: beating Robert Whitaker.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Who is very likely a future UFC Hall of Famer,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Robert Whitaker, who went on to become middleweight champ of
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the UFC multiple times over.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Court McGee, you beat Robert Whitaker. Yep.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: I'm just, you know, it's like, I don't know. It's incredible.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: And I feel grateful. And I'm so grateful for all
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: the coaches and the training partners and all the people that,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: you know, have put time in to help me. And
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: I'm grateful that I didn't give up on myself. there's
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: a lot of times it's got real tough, but I'm
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: glad I didn't give up five minutes to pour the miracle.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Well, you know what?
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I want to, I want to give you a little
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: space to talk about the best part of your story.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: And it's something that's well publicized, but we have probably
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of listeners who, you know, are new. They
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: don't understand, they don't understand or care about MMA that much.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: And you already talked about your injuries. And I want
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: to make sure people know that when court McGee has
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: a surgery or court McGee has an injury recovery process, uh,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: As a recovering addict, and I'll give you your space
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to talk about what that means, Court does not get
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to pop a bunch of pills or take a bunch
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of narcotics in order.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: To dull that pain.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: And you're 20 years sober now, Court, and that is
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: even more impressive than what you've done in the UFC.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm, I do. I have, I have about 20
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: and a half years of sobriety, April 16th, 2006 is
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: my sobriety birthday. So I have over 20 years of
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: sobriety and 16 years of that have been in the
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: UFC in the high highs and the low lows. But
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: one thing I've done is I have woke up sober
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: and stayed sober throughout every one of those days. And,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: you know, it's like, I always fight to carry the
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: message to people who struggle out there that there's a
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: way out. Um, and it might not be through fighting,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: you know, fighting didn't keep me sober, having a program
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: of recovery, uh, being in 12 step program like that.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: That's what, that's what has maintained my sobriety and then
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: giving that away. But I fight for those, uh, who
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: struggle with addiction. Um, and you know, it's like, if
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: I can have this long tenured career, I mean, I'm
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: nobody special. I'm a kid from Layton. late in Utah,
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: middle-class family. Uh, I just had a passion for something
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: and I followed it and I didn't, I didn't give
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: up even when they go and got tough.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I might push back on the idea that you're not special.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: You are a, especially from a conditioning standpoint, you are
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: a freak. You're an alien when it comes to the
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: pace and the conditioning. And that's something that's remained constant
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: throughout your career. Give the people out there a sense
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: of what it takes to have that kind of a
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: gas tank.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: The willingness to have seven to nine practices every week,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: 52 weeks a year, every year that I've been in
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: the UFC, with the exception of times that I can't
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: because I had surgery. And outside of that, I condition
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: every week on Thursday. I do my conditioning. I do
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: maintenance conditioning when I'm not training for a fight. And
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: then I ramp it up, you know, six to eight
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: weeks out. And I, you know, there's one thing, you know,
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: and part of the reason why I did that is
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: because early on I was like, oh, my gosh, there's
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: world champion jiu-jitsu guys. There's world champion kickboxers. There's these
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: world-class boxers. There's these world-class wrestlers. I'm not any of
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: those guys. I had better be a world-class conditioned athlete
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: so when those guys break, I can find a way
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: to beat them. And it's boded very well for me.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: All right, your opponent on the card this week is
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: a young cat, Eric Nolan, who's coming off a couple losses.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, you've got an opportunity here, Court, to go
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: out on a big win and ride off into the
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: sunset victorious, which, again, is not all that common. What
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: they do with the old Lions, like Court McGee... is
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: they feed them to some young hungry up and comer
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: and say, yeah, we're going to build your name by
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: letting you beat the guy who's on his way out.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: And that's, I mean, presumably what the matchmakers are trying
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: to do here, but I think you can beat this kid.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I know you believe it. How are you going to
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: do it? Yep.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Here's the thing is I have confidence in my preparation
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: and I have confidence in my ability to, to find
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: a way to beat this guy. And I, You know,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: like every fight, I'm going to come out, I'm going
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: to come out firing, you know, business as usual, pressure,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: forward lateral movement, and then find a way to get
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: to finish.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Court, there's been a lot of conversation about the way
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: that the UFC pays its fighters, treats its fighters. You know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: there's controversy all over the place. Some people love Dana White.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Some people hate Dana White. Correct me if I'm wrong,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: but it feels like you've really carved out a way
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and you've proved to people that you can make a
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: living in this sport. It doesn't have to be this
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: feast or famine kind of a thing. It seems like
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: you have a good relationship with the organization, which is
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: not always the case. Tell me how that's all come
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: to shape for you.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Well, I have negotiated almost all of my contracts with
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: the exception of the ultimate fighter contract, which is like
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: eight or nine fights. And then I had a manager
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: for my, my first contract negotiation. And then after that, I,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: I separated from that management and then negotiated all my contracts.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: But my biggest thing is like, I grew up with
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: in a frugal family that was, that was like hardworking middle-class.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: And so what I did was I was a commercial
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: plumber before I stopped and started fighting full time. And,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: you know, I had a jobs all the way up
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: until I won the ultimate fighter. And then after that,
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: My primary source of income for these last 16 or
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: 17 years has been fighting. And all I did was
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: I maintained, you know, kind of like pay, like as
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: if I was a commercial plumber. So I just budgeted
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: and didn't live outside of my means and forced myself
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: to not overindulge and, you know, take care of my family.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Like first things first, you know, have a mortgage, pay
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: the mortgage, make sure we have food, make sure that
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: my family's taken care of. and the money that I
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: make is our money, not my money. And so it, it,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: you know, it kept me structured. It kept me, uh,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: focused on what I needed to do to stay in
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: the gym because I watched a few fighters go out
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: and blow their paycheck. And then all of a sudden
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: they didn't know how they were going to prepare for
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: their fight. So I learned from that early, Hey, listen,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: you need to save your money, just, just budget. And, uh,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: that way you can always show up to the gym
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: and prepare properly for your fight and not having to
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: get an extra couple of side jobs. So, um, And
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: I've maintained that schedule my whole career. Whether I had
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: real good years or real tough years, I just maintained that.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: And it has really preserved my career and gave me
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: peace of mind. So I wasn't on the edge all
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: the time.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I don't want to disrespect any coaches you've ever had,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: but you're as self-made as a fighter can be out there.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: You didn't go to one of these big camps regularly.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: You didn't spend, you know, you didn't relocate to American
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Top Team or move down to Vegas to do like
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the extreme couture thing. And, you know, you've always had
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: elite training partners, but also like been in the room
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: with guys that are just coming up or guys that
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: are never actually going to fight.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: And how'd you do it?
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Just consistency and then the willingness to give away what
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: I've learned because it helps them get better and then
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: be better training partners. You know, after I won the
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Ultimate Fighter, I had Coach John Hackleman coach me and
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: corner me for a number of years. He just hated
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: seeing me get injured. And.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: I still use, and I feel like he's in my corner.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: I still feel like Howard, the late Howard Davis is
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: still in my corner. I still, I, you know, I
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: still hear Chuck in the room. I still hear the
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: coaches that I grew up with, you know, Shane Stoneman.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: And I, I hear, I hear the coaches and although
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: I hear those coaches and I, I've just, I've kept
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: all those. I'm pretty strenuous on, on, uh, taking notes.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And so I have all of that stuff. And so like,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: I still hear those guys. I still use a lot
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: of those methods that I've learned from different gyms. And
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: then I just practically apply it with the people around
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: me who are preparing for fights and I help them
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: dial it in. And then inevitably they, they get better,
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: they prepare better. And then I try to see like
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: what people are good at and then what they're really
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: good at. I try to match them. And so it's like,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: It's one of those things like it's been it's been
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: a really, really cool experience to bring people along and
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: see them start from not fighting to fighting for the
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: first time and then fighting in the UFC. And I've
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: had about five of those guys, you know, and it's
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: just like it's pretty awesome.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Who's the next?
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: There's a bit of a lull right now with our
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: local talent at the top levels.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Utah, at one point, was per capita producing a lot
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: of guys that were making it big.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And we've slowed that for whatever reason. So who's next, Cord?
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: We, we slowed that, but we have between, well, not,
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: not that I would know, but I have identified like
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: five to six within the next two to three years.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I think that that period of growth, the other thing
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: is I don't want to throw you in too early. Right.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: Cause even if you have a great record and you're
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: doing really well, but you're not, you're not mentally ready,
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: or maybe you and your wife are not on the
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: same page or, you know, it's like, I think there's
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: four to five guys, possibly six, within the next 18
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: months to two years that really have a shot. But
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: that depends on timing. It depends on whether or not
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: they're healthy or if they can continue to compete at
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: where they're competing right now. So pretty soon we have
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: a group that should be making their step into the octagons.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Have you allowed yourself to think about what comes next,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: like what it's going to be like the day after
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: your final professional fight?
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: No, I mean, I've tried to, I live my life
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: one day at a time and I obviously look into
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: the future. I knew coming out of the ultimate fighter,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: like there was no guarantees, even though I had, you know, whatever,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: 10 fights in my ultimate fighter contract. Dude, an injury
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: can take you out. So it's like I've prepared like
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: it's been my last fight. Every fight I've had, all
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: 29 fights I've had at the UFC. And so it's
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: our 28 fights, including the ones in the house. So
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: after I have put in the time, I have a gym.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: It's successful.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: It's working.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: You know, and obviously I'm going to have a little
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: a little more time, uh, that I'm not staying within
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: three to four, uh, weeks of peaking for a UFC
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: fight to where I can, I can, I can put
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: that time and that effort into, you know, functionalities at
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: the gym. Uh, I will spend a little more time
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: with the McGee project speaking and helping youth and young
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: adults struggle with addiction. Um, And so I have an
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: exit strategy, but I kind of had that exit strategy, uh,
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: since day one, since I made it into the ultimate
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: fighter and came off. Cause, cause I, I watched guys
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: come in and they're like, I'm guaranteed this. And like, dude,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: you're never guaranteed anything. So I try to show up
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: one day at a time. I'm going to focus on
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: making weight on Friday. Once I make weight, then we
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: focus on the fight.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Well, court, uh, your career, uh, Is admirable.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Your career is special to me because, like I said
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: at the top of this conversation, we started at the
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: right time. And I'm proud to know you and to
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: know that you've overcome so much and you've stayed in
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: this game for so long. And I'm really happy that
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: you get to finish it the right way here on
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the home field, right where.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Right where it started. It's amazing, dude. I know.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: And I used to hate it. I used to hate
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: fighting at home. I didn't, you know, and now I'm like, dude,
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: I want to fight here. You know, it's like, it's
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: going to be cool. Feather in the cap.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Congratulations on an incredible career. I'll be seeing you around
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: of course. And I'm, I'm immensely proud of you, dude.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I love the way you've represented our state. Uh, I
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: think it's incredible who you are as a person, as
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: a dad, as a fighter, uh, There's just a lot
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: to look up to, and I appreciate you for that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Sean.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: That is Court McGee. Good luck, dude.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Court McGee, the crusher, finishing out his career at this
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: UFC 332 that's happening Saturday night at the Delta Center.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: He is the first fight on the card.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: So 6 o'clock, doors are going to open, I believe,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: at 5, 6 o'clock.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Be in your seat. Get out of that seat and
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: make some noise for our guy.