It was a slow start in MMA for Marcus McGhee.
Undefeated as a pro, the Michigan-born fighter made his amateur debut in 2012 but didn’t turn pro until 2020. When he did go pro, the coronavirus pandemic set in, and everything shut down— slowing his career. As an amateur, McGhee went 3-2 while winning those three consecutively and capturing the Iron Boy MMA featherweight title. Since he’s turned pro he’s only fought three times (3-0) but has had a few fights fall through, including a fight against Josh Wang-Kim who has a lot of hype behind him.
McGhee trains out of the MMA Lab with some studs. He’s been training with some of the top guys around and has even been in the corner of Kyler Phillips in the UFC.
McGhee is a bantamweight and that in my opinion is the toughest division there is at the moment. Obviously, McGhee is only 3-0 and already 31-years-old so he has a lot of ground to make up. I do think he has the striking, speed, power, and everything in between to be a problem in that deep division.
Most of McGhee’s cage time has played out on the feet. He’s been taken down from time to time but always gets back up. In the glimpses he’s shown offensively he shows he knows what he’s doing. I can assure you that anybody training with the guys at the MMA Lab know what they’re doing in all disciplines.
McGhee’s hands are super sharp complemented by some wonderful in-and-out movement. He can lunge forward with a combination and get back out of the way. He utilizes light movement and some really quick footwork. The best thing McGhee does, along with frequent volume, is that he always throws in different patterns. He won’t just head hunt but will go to the body actively and throw there in combinations. McGhee will interject some heavy leg kicks at the end of combinations really mixing everything together. McGhee makes it tough to read not only with his shot selection but his use of feints/fakes is perfectly done.
Now is the time to watch Marcus McGhee, as he starts to become more active in his career. As of now, McGhee doesn’t have any glaring holes. If anything holds him back it would just be him missing cage time and the fight game passing him up. I don’t feel that will be a problem moving forward though. Training with a top team like the MMA Lab and being managed by Iridium, he’s in good hands. As he fights more he’ll start to gain more notice and two years from now McGhee’s skillset will be known more worldwide.
McGhee competes this Saturday at RUF 47, taking on Rodney “Hot Rod” Mondala.
