MMA star Rhys McKee set for UFC debut in Abu Dhabi

Ballymena MMA star Rhys McKee. Credit: INPHO

After a whirlwind week, Ballymena MMA star Rhys McKee makes his UFC debut this weekend at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

The location has been set up to allow international fighters to continue with UFC events amid travel restrictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

McKee has now been living at the purpose-built village there since Tuesday, after only getting a call to tell him to pack his bags days earlier.

Strict testing and quarantine measures are in place and, all-in-all, with a Formula 1 track outside his hotel and a practice cage on the beach, it makes for a surreal experience.

“Since I got that phone call, everything’s been different – it’s been the craziest whirlwind,” 24-year-old McKee, a BAMMA veteran, told UTV.

“Two days later I was on a plane and the rest is history. ”

McKee will take on Khamzat Chimaev at welterweight when he enters the octagon on Saturday night.

It marks a big moment in the career of a young man who started out with no such intentions, when he first joined the gym as a hobby at the age of 16.

“I joined the gym with no notion of ever making a career out of anything to do with it,” he admits.

“From there, I saw Norman Parke accomplish great things and decided I want a piece of that.

“Now I’m sitting at Fight Island … It’s just bizarre. Really, really crazy.”