UFC Vegas 46: Court McGee Recalls Breaking Sternum On The Ultimate Fighter, Fighting Through It

Las Vegas, NV — Welterweight Court McGee continues to show how tough he is.

On the verge of being cut last year, The Ultimate Fighter season 11 winner has now won two straight for the first time since 2013 when he beat Josh Neer and Robert Whittaker.

McGee (21-10) defeated Ramiz Brahimaj via a dominant unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 46. At 37-years old, it might have been McGee’s best performance. Following the fight, McGee credited a lot for his performance and agreed it might be the best he has ever looked.

“Yeah, you know, I caught him right at the end of the first round, and I feel like I could have gone back to the striking, but I was having success on the inside, and I felt like I was heavy on him. I did take a knee or two and got into a few type of positions, like the guillotine in the third round. I had my elbow in, so I felt safe there and wasn’t going to give up position— I wasn’t going to get submitted, and I was going to pop my head out and land a few shots. I wanted to see if I could get an arm-triangle or get a submission and get a finish. But, they all seem to be very tough,” McGee told Cageside Press in his UFC Vegas post-fight interview.

McGee said all of his opponents have been very tough, but he is one of the most underrated tough fighters in the UFC. He revealed that he broke his sternum during his first fight on The Ultimate Fighter and fought through it for the rest of the show.

“I’ve said it over and over, we had one of the toughest houses [on TUF], and I know there have been a lot of tough houses. My toughest fight was against Seth Baczynski, my fight to get into the house. Like, my fight with Seth Baczynski was the toughest fight I’ve ever had. I remember I got dropped, and Mike Tyson was right there, and I remember Tito Ortiz saying ‘he’s gassing,’ but I had just doubled-legged him and landed on his knee,” McGee said. “So, when I overdosed on heroin on September 9th, 2005, they did CPR, and they broke my sternum. I broke my sternum, taking him [Baczynski] down, and I couldn’t breathe, so I looked over and said, ‘I’m not gassed! I’m not gassed! My chest hurts’ and then I ended up winning.”

McGee didn’t tell anybody about the injury, worried that he’d be kicked off the show, as other injured fighters had been. Luckily, he didn’t fight for over two more weeks; he would fight the rest of the show with a broken sternum and go on to win the season.

Watch the rest of Court McGee’s UFC Vegas 46 post-fight interview above. More coverage from the event can be found below.