Court McGee: From devastation to a determination to return to the UFC
When Court McGee steps into the Octagon at UFC 194 it will be almost exactly two years to the day since he last fought before a wrist injury nearly ended his entire career.
Injuries are commonplace among professional athletes but usually when it comes to something so severe that it might take away someone's livelihood it's a knee or maybe an ruptured Achilles' tendon or maybe even a shoulder.
It's not often that a wrist injury is held in the same regard, but McGee says following his last fight in 2013, his was so bad that fighting was out of the question and at that point he couldn't even pick up his son to hold him.
"When I fought Ryan LaFlare, after the fight I literally couldn't pour a pot of coffee," McGee told FOX Sports. "I couldn't hold the coffee pot. When I did the testing at the therapy center, my grip was at about 45 pounds. Now previously I did arm wrestling and I used to do power lifting, mainly dead lift, my grip was just over 200 pounds per square inch. I had a really good grip.
"Being all the way to where I couldn't pick up my son or just do household stuff, I realized I had to get this thing checked out."
According to McGee, doctors informed him that the main ligament in his wrist was detached and with surgery it would probably be at least a year before he could have full function back in his hand.
Shortly after that diagnosis, McGee met a professional golfer who suffered a similar injury and it put an end to his career. Needless to say, that kind of news hit him like a ton of bricks.
"I was just devastated," McGee said.
The time off from fighting was bad enough but the injury also forced McGee to really stay out of the gym because he couldn't do much of anything while essentially only having use of one arm.
As the days turned into months and the months into a year, McGee started to wonder if it was even worthwhile to pursue a return to the Octagon. In the past, McGee pushed himself to the brink to get ready for fights, but with so much down time he started seeing other fighters put in the same kind of work and it was almost discouraging for him to try to come back at that point.
"I was out for so long and I had a lot of disappointment just physically because I had the two little procedures done and then one of them doesn't work so you have a big surgery. Then you go have the hardware taken out, mentally it set you back a little bit because you watch these fights and you know people are getting better and you're forced to sit on the sidelines. It really gets to you," McGee said.
"It was kind of like questioning my desire. Because here's the thing: Ever since I started fighting I knew what I wanted to do with it. I knew I wanted to take it to the limit. I knew as soon as I started training, I knew what I was doing with it. I said, 'Hey, I'm going to become a professional athlete and become the best mixed martial artist I can be.' And that took me all the way to "The Ultimate Fighter" finale.
"No matter what happened, I never allowed myself to fall short or derail. That takes consistency with practice even with injuries. I did that even during my time off, but I had these thoughts of being off for so long. I didn't pay attention much to social media until these last couple years and just following some of these athletes I realized there's people out here working like me every day. I knew that but maybe I let some of that seep into my head."
The idea of retirement lingered only until McGee realized that he still had plenty of time to work his way back into shape and prove that he could still face the best of the best in the UFC and come away victorious.
"I did a little bit of soul searching -- should I hang it up? Should I not? I've been out so long. Then I was just like no, why would I hang it up? I've still got the fight in me," McGee said. "I just did an extra long camp as soon as I found out I was fighting. I was back in training and I just told myself if you get a little bit overworked, you'll back it off a little bit but for me I wanted to start right now because I've been off so long. That's exactly what I did."
Once McGee's wrist was fully healed he got back into the gym and began training for his return to action, but it certainly wasn't easy. Before he was forced to the sidelines, McGee was the machine no one could out-work but when he started grappling and sparring with his teammates again, he wasn't getting the best of them anymore.
Rather than let that deter him, McGee pushed through the adversity and it only made him hungrier to get better. Day by day he improved until McGee was finally ready to give UFC matchmaker Joe Silva a call to say he was ready to fight again.
"I went back to practice and that fire was still there," McGee said. "Tired, exhausted, getting beat up -- it hurt my ego a little bit cause I was getting worked over by these guys and some of these guys were people I used to get over pretty good but then I realized they had two years to get really good. So it wasn't that I got worse, but they were in shape and ready to go. So I had that fire and motivation to always come back and do better tomorrow."
Now McGee is finally returning to the UFC as he faces Marcio Alexandre Jr. on Dec. 12 but he's not thinking about anything past that date. The way McGee worked his way back from injury was to do it one day at a time and that's how he'll handle everything until his entrance music hits and he steps back into the Octagon.
"I don't try to look at the destination. I don't try to look at the win. I don't try to look at how much money. I don't try to look at what won't help make me a better martial artist. I stay in the moment," McGee said. "That gives me the best chance I can do today. So on fight day it gives me the best chance to be ready."
