Athletes
Marcus McGhee Always Keeps An Even Keel
Returning Bantamweight Talks Time Away, Focus On Here And Now
There are a few people on the UFC roster who might be better suited for navigating the 11-month layoff Marcus McGhee has endured since his bout with Petr Yan last summer in Abu Dhabi.
While no one enjoys sitting on the sidelines for the better part of the year, the 36-year-old bantamweight standout, who finally returns to action this weekend against John Yannis, has never been one to look at things from a negative perspective or get too riled up about the twists and turns of life. Instead, he rolls with the punches, counts his blessings, and, in this case, has made sure that he’s been ready for whenever the call to return to the Octagon came.
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“This is the way the cards have fallen,” began McGhee. “You choose what you can, and you adapt to what you must adapt to, but here we are. We almost lost this one but thank you to John Yannis for pulling up and deciding to take the fight, so super-grateful to be here now.
“It’s frustrating, obviously,” continued the MMA Lab product. “I think in any career field, being shelved for that kind of time, you go through so many different emotional moments. Gratefully, I have a really based family, a really based lifestyle, and that has kept me grounded. I’ve just been using it for what it is and getting better in the gym, building my family, building my own mental fortitude.
“Using the time wisely has been good for me,” he added. “Obviously, I didn’t want to take that much time off, and I would have liked to be a lot more active, but I feel like it becomes more of an issue if you don’t use the time as efficiently as I was able to use it.”
For many athletes, the constant cycle of “training camp, , small rest, start over” leaves little time to focus on skill development and getting the opportunity to drill down on areas that need attention, as camps are geared towards fight-specific activities and preparing for what awaits on that particular day.
While McGhee has never struggled to make time to continually sharpen his skills, these last 11 months have been flush with opportunities to keep building as he’s been present in the fight camps of several of his teammates throughout this time.
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“Even when I’m competing regularly, I still feel like I get that chance, but since I haven’t had to do it with it being my fight, it’s been slightly different,” McGhee said. “One of the favorite parts of our gym is that we’re there for each other, so even though I haven’t been fighting, all my guys have been fighting.
“I was just (in Winnipeg) with Kyler (Phillips); I went through his whole camp with him. Mario (Bautista) was fighting; I went through his camps with him. Abdul Kamara has been fighting regularly for Fury FC; I’ve been in there with him. So many of our guys are constantly growing, constantly fighting, that it forces us to stay in the gym — you can’t get behind — so it’s still been growth, still been the same; I just haven’t fought.”
Another piece of what makes McGhee uniquely equipped to return like nothing has changed this weekend is the outlook he has when it comes to his most recent outing against the now two-time bantamweight champion Yan.
There is a line in the film version of High Fidelity where John Cusack’s character is polishing 45s and waxing poetic and says, “Some people never got over ‘Nam or the night their band opened for Nirvana,” relating it to his never getting over one of his All-Time Top 5 Breakups, Charlie Nicholson. The same kind of thing applies to fighting. Some athletes forever cling to the night that ran level with a standout or registered the biggest win of their career, everything constantly tethered to that evening, and returning to that form.
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McGhee’s bout with Yan could be that type of moment for “The Maniac” if he wanted it to be, as he won the opening round and engaged in a competitive 15-minute fight with the man currently seated atop the bantamweight division for a second time. It’s the type of performance that could fill you with confidence and swagger if you let it, but instead, McGhee sees it more as a moment that provided some positive takeaways while also having zero impact on anything that happens this weekend or beyond.
“There is definitely confidence that comes from it, but I don’t let myself get caught up in that too much because any given night, anything can happen,” McGhee said. “I feel like people dwell on those moments too much, and it can be detrimental.
“Yes, I went out there, and there are a lot of good things about the performance I put on against him, but that doesn’t change anything for the fights in the future. Every fight is gonna be hard, and regardless of how I showed up that night, I still have to make sure I show up even better and more force each one of these fights. I can’t let any of the performances shut down the growth.
Marcus McGhee Fight Week Interview | UFC Fight Night: Muhammad vs Bonfim
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Marcus McGhee Fight Week Interview | UFC Fight Night: Muhammad vs Bonfim
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“Even though I take confidence from that, it’s just slight confidence and then humility kicks back in, and I go, ‘It doesn’t matter how well I did or how well I didn’t do; this is a new fight, a new moment and a new time,’” he added with a laugh. “(Yannis) doesn’t care. It doesn’t change his game plan, his abilities, his work ethic. I still have to be the best form of myself to show why I was in the position that I was and why I performed like I did.”
After 11 months biding his time, waiting to return, McGhee finally gets that opportunity on Saturday night, and delivering the kind of performance that reiterates why he was in a position to share the Octagon with Yan is precisely what he intends to do, but not for anyone other than himself.
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“Remind myself that I belong here. It’s not necessarily for other people, but just to remind myself of all the hard work, all the dedication, all the character built, and then go out there and perform well to honor the work we’ve put in. I’m very excited and just looking forward to going out there and gracing the cage, feeling the canvas under my feet, looking another man in the eyes, and then showcasing my skills.”
And even if things go perfectly for McGhee on Saturday, he knows that the nature of the sport and the state of the bantamweight division means that the following week, it will be “on to the next one,” so all he’s focused on is performing to the best of his abilities and then getting right back into The Lab in order to be ready for the next call.
“Going in there and performing to the best of my abilities; to go in there and showcase everything I’ve worked on and the (totality) of my game,” McGhee said. “Wherever that goes —whether that’s a finish by striking, a finish by submission, 15 minutes of out-classing him or 15 minutes of battle and just getting the win, it’s just about going out there and doing the best that I know I can do and performing at my highest level.
“The people will see,” he added. “But in our division, the fan base fluctuates so much because there’s so constantly going on, so no matter what, we go out here Saturday and do what we plan on doing; the next Saturday it’ll be over. I don’t put too many eggs in that basket, so just go out there, perform to the best of my ability, and then get back to the gym and get ready for what’s next because this is just a part of it.”
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