"He breeds champions" - Former Bellator featherweight champion AJ McKee opens up about being one of Scott Coker's homegrown stars

AJ McKee recently opened up about his experience competing for Bellator and being one of Scott Coker's homegrown stars that were synonymous with the promotion.

The former Bellator featherweight champion and Grand Prix winner made his professional debut for the promotion in 2015 and has remained one of the promotion's top fighters. While speaking to The Game Plan, the 28-year-old shared his thoughts on Coker as a promoter and mentioned that he believes he did an excellent job in building new stars for the sport. He said:

"He's been in the game for years. He's held some of the best fights that mixed martial arts has seen. From Glory to Pride, he's had anybody and everybody on his roster.

"He breeds champions and that's what it's all about. So being a homegrown talent, I feel like I'm the cream of the crop and he did an excellent job working side-by-side working with my father and building a superstar - AJ 'The Mercenary' McKee." [2:38 - 3:05]

McKee proved that Coker had a great eye for talent as he achieved a great deal of success during his Bellator tenure including winning the featherweight Grand Prix and featherweight championship with an unbeaten record.

Check out the full interview below:

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Who has AJ McKee defeated at lightweight?

AJ McKee has been successful in carrying over the momentum he gained from featherweight into his new weight-class at 1 55pounds.

'The Mercenary' made his lightweight debut against UFC veteran Spike Carlyle at Bellator 286, where he earned a unanimous decision. He then followed that up by representing the promotion against Rizin lightweight champion Roberto 'Satoshi' Souza two months later on the Japanese-based promotion's annual New Year's Eve event, and once again earned a unanimous decision.

McKee most recently competed against Sidney Outlaw at Bellator 301, which saw him dominate his opponent while fighting the majority of the fight off his back en route to a unanimous decision win. He is scheduled to return to action on Feb. 24, when he fights Clay Collard at the landmark PFL vs Bellator event in Saudi Arabia.