“It took time,” McKinney laughs. “I wasn’t always like this. I’ve been through way worse. I just want to count my blessings. I feel like it’s disrespectful for me to be sad. I refuse to do that.”
If you haven’t figured it out by now, McKinney is a unicorn in the fight game. So he didn’t even give himself a little while to mourn the temporary loss of his return to the Octagon
“I was sad for a second,” he said. “And then they said I was still getting paid and that frown turned upside down.”
McKinney laughs, and that’s his default mode when he’s not trying to punch somebody on fight night. That positive attitude has not just made him a fan favorite, but a favorite among his peers as well.
“That’s huge for me because it’s cool to have fans, but I also want to be cool in the fight community because these guys are my business partners, and if we can all just help each other grow, it would be huge for the fight game,” he said. “We’re all just here to do one thing and we’ve all got our jobs, but at the same time, I love these guys. I know what they’re risking in there. They’re fighting in front of their families and I got a heart for that, so I’ll always stand up for them when I can when the fans are talking. They don’t know what it’s like to put your life on the line in front of your family, your kids. So I commend any person that does that. When it’s outside the cage, it’s nothing but the utmost respect.”
