Court McGee did not get his fairy-tale ending at UFC 332.
On Saturday, McGee made the walk to the octagon for the final time in his career, taking on Eric Nolan in front of his home-state crowd in the opening bout of UFC 332. Unfortunately for McGee, things didn’t go his way, as Nolan battered him to a stoppage in the third round of the bout.
McGee came out strong in the first round, wearing on Nolan with his pressure boxing and wrestling. But Nolan cracked him just before the end of the round, leaving McGee stunned. He was able to recover between rounds and again kept the pressure on Nolan in the second, who appeared to be slowing as he tried hard to get McGee out of there.
But with the fight up in the air in the final round, Nolan found a second wind and upped his offense, repeatedly tagging McGee, who could not get a takedown. Eventually, one of those shots really hurt McGee, who went into survival mode. And survive he did, nearly hold on until the end of the fight, but Nolan kept the pressure up, eventually crashing McGee to the canvas with a right hand that ended the fight.
After the bout, McGee gave a short speech, commemorating his time in the UFC. He also got a short video package on the broadcast after leaving the cage.
“Thank you to everybody who came,” McGee said. “Listen, none of this would be possible — 20 years I got sober, and 16 of those I’ve been fighting the best guys in the world. My hat’s off to Eric. I left everything in this cage every time I fought. I grew up 20 miles from here. Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t achieve your dreams.”
McGee retires with an MMA record of 22-15.
