When Court McGee steps into the cage on Saturday, it’ll have been roughly 11 months since we’ve seen him in there. McGee has never been one for long layoffs – he likes to stay busy in the cage. However, after years of wear and tear, the TUF 11 champion decided it was time to take care of one of the more nagging issues.
McGee had done something to his neck a few years back. While he had been doing things to try to make it better, it was not time to really fix it.
“It was an injury that a sustained in another fight that I had postponed [dealing with] for six or seven fights,” McGee said. “I had done everything you could do. I did therapy and ozone injections and stem sell stuff. It got to a point where it got real, real bad after this last fight.”
While surgery made all the sense in the world, McGee was initially hesitant on jumping to it.
“I had heard so many horror stories about people having bad neck surgeries and not being able to compete,” he said. “I was nervous. They are either fusing or replacing disks.”
To put himself at ease, McGee researched the doctor’s closely and finally felt comfortable enough to make the move. They cut him open and replaced a pair of disks (between C5-C6 and C6-C7).
From there, McGee went through physical therapy and then put himself through a month-long, mock training camp. When things not only held up, but felt better than he could ever imagine, he made the call to Sean Shelby.
“I didn’t realize how much pain I was in. I didn’t realize how limiting the mobility was,” he revealed. “And now it’s funny, my kids will talk to me or one of my students and I’ll look back like an old guy – like keep my neck still. Then I’m like ‘wait, I don’t have to do that no more.”
The biggest difference comes in the fighting itself. Over the years, he’s had to make concessions when it comes to working in the clinch or working on anaconda chokes. Now, he’s back to doing it all, with one of those things being the biggest change.
“In an orthodox stance, shooting a double with your head in the center or to the outside – I had to completely get rid of that [before the surgery],” McGee explained.
The new and improved version of McGee is ready to use all those weapons when he faces Alex Morono. He’s got a plan for how this next chapter of his career gets goin.
“Yes, second round stoppage – TKO,” he stated confidently.
You can see that fight as part of the UFC Vegas 90 prelims. That card begins at 3pm EST on ESPN+.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 2:03.
