That may be a given already. And if the seven-second win over Frevola wasn’t enough, consider that in his three pre-UFC bouts in 2021, he won in 16, 17 and 72 seconds. Excited yet? Regardless, McKinney doesn’t feel any pressure.
“No, man, I’m just having fun out there,” he said. “If you beat me, you gotta put me out. That’s the only way. And if you can’t knock me out, you’re dead. I know once I touch the chin, it’s gonna be lights out if it’s clean.”
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What a beautiful thing it must be to have that in your back pocket, and the 27-year-old wouldn’t disagree. As for when he knew he had a little bit more on the fastball than most, that came early.
“When I started training, before I even got technique, people always told me that I hit hard,” he said. “I think it’s more that I’m really fast and I’m accurate. I’ve always been accurate with the punches because I grew up fighting and wrestling. I always knew I could at least make my punch land where I wanted it to.”
Not bad for the knockout artist who grew up in wrestling and has more wins by submission (six) than knockout (five). But hey, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story, and the truth of this story is that McKinney is a finisher, no matter how he gets it done. And when you get the job done like that, you move fast. How fast?
