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MMA Interviews
- Jeremy Carper: Fight with Jamie Varner didn’t happen due to Fraudulent Blood
- Mike Rio Waits for his turn while Ribs Heal
- Sergio Pettis talks staying focused, improvements he needs to make, and Ian McCall
- Brady Hovermale: Wise Beyond His Years
- Exclusive Interview with Lion Fight Promotions CEO, Scott Kent
Cody McKenzie Does it again at UFC 123
Prior to making waves on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, Cody “Bigtime” McKenzie (12-0) spent the last three years racking up victories in the Washington (USA)/British Columbia (Canada) region. In his professional debut, McKenzie ended the fight in the second round by way of TKO. Ever since then, he has ended all his fights in the first round by way of submission. Ten of those submissions came via what he calls the “McKenzietine”, which is a modified guillotine choke that attacks the carotid arteries instead of the airways.
On the first episode of this season’s TUF, he explained just exactly what a McKenzietine is, shortly after putting his opponent to sleep with it. In his next fight against Team Kos’s Marc Stevens, everybody knew what McKenzie would do yet Stevens couldn’t stop it and was put to sleep in seventeen seconds.
The only fight in his career in which he could not secure his choke, he was defeated by Nam Phan via TKO.
This past Saturday, not only did we see a new Ultimate Fighter crowned but we also witnessed Cody McKenzie do what he does best: put his opponent in a guillotine choke and force them to tap out or pass out. In just two minutes of the first round, McKenzie got fellow TUF 12 alum Aaron Wilkinson in his signature “McKenzietine” and forced him to tap out. During the fight, UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were shocked at how Wilkinson left his neck sticking out during his takedown of McKenzie, practically asking McKenzie to latch on. This submission victory over Wilkinson (the eleventh submission in a row) also earned him a $30,000 Submission of the Night bonus.
Formerly a fisherman in Alaska, Cody McKenzie breaks the mold for a “typical fighter”. Not only does he not look like a fighter, with his long crazy hair and lanky body, his demeanor is more laid back than just about anybody that has ever been on TUF before. During the show, McKenzie was one of the few people to not only engage in the trash-talking with Koscheck, but also get under his skin and visibly annoy him.
He is also one of few undefeated fighters that can consistently win fights with the same exact technique every time. McKenzie also doesn’t cut weight as he fights at Lightweight and walks around at about 150lbs. According to Sherdog.com, McKenzie has the third-most guillotine choke victories in the world, behind only two fighters who have each had over 50 fights in their respective careers (Travis Fulton & Brian Dunn).
With the ability to basically impose his will so well, even when his opponent knows what’s coming, is definitely going to allow Cody McKenzie to immediately make some waves in the Lightweight division. Also, having finished his last fight pretty quickly and not taking any damage, he could get another fight sooner rather than later and look to move up that list of fighters with the most guillotine victories.
That is insane that he constantly gets that choke when everyone knows he is going for it.
@Bobby
It really is. It’s as if he could opening tell the guy I’m about to choke your ass out and they couldn’t stop him.