Court McGee

Courtney Scott "Court" McGee (born December 12, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In the early 2000s, McGee started taking painkillers in an attempt to find relief from an injury and began hanging out with the wrong crowd, a situation that would lead McGee to become addicted to heroin and cocaine.

Following an overdose in which McGee was declared clinically deceased for eight minutes, he was resuscitated and as a result of the damage caused from temporary death to the brain, he had to learn how to walk and talk again.

After rehab and getting himself cleaned up from substance abuse, McGee returned to Layton High School to become an assistant wrestling coach.

He later picked up Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing, and eventually transitioned into competing in MMA professionally.

In addition to his Mixed Martial Arts career, McGee has also compiled a 2–0 record as a professional boxer in the cruiserweight division.

Court McGee participated in high school wrestling at Layton High School placing 6th in the 5A State Division in 2002 and 3rd in the 5A State Division in 2003, under Mike Hansen.

McGee also holds a background in karate, in which he has amassed over 100 kumite.

After graduating from the high school, he attended Weber State University for a spell before dropping out due to lack of interest.

A professional MMA competitor since 2007, McGee mostly fought in local promotions in Utah before winning Spike TV's eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter.

As a recovering heroin addict, McGee actively gives talks on anti drug campaigns to teenagers and launched online "Hope 361" project to help addicts to the path of recovery.

McGee started his MMA career in 2007 in his home state of Utah, compiling a record of 10–1, with two technical knockouts and five submission wins.

Two notable fights occurred during this period, with a submission win over DaMarques Johnson and a loss to Jeremy Horn.

Both fights took place in 2008, in between his MMA career.

His first fight was against Francisco Antonio Alacantara in May 2008.

McGee defeated him via unanimous decision (40–35, 40–36, 39–36) in a four-round fight, having defeated Hank Weiss in an MMA fight just days earlier.

This was followed up by another unanimous decision victory (40–36, 40–36, 39–37) over Freddie Martinez.

In September 2008, McGee faced Isidro Gonzalez at the "Throwdown Showdown" event in Orem, Utah.

McGee won the match after a unanimous decision.

McGee was scheduled to compete in December 2008 against Ray Lazama for the Gladiator Challenge Middleweight title.

However, the bout never transpired for unknown reasons.

McGee instead faced Dayle Jarvis in July 2009.

In what would turn out to be his final appearance on the local MMA circuit, McGee won by a Technical Knockout (TKO) over his opponent in under four minutes.

McGee revealed in June 2010 that this fight took place during his bachelor weekend.

In March 2010, McGee was announced as part of the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter.

In the elimination round, McGee narrowly defeated Seth Baczynski after going to a sudden victory round.

McGee was later picked by Chuck Liddell as his sixth pick and twelfth overall.

McGee was then defeated by the show's number one pick Nick Ring in the sixth preliminary fight.

After two rounds, the judges declared the fight a victory for Ring via majority decision (20–18, 19–19, 20–18).

Dana White and Chuck Liddell both stated that the fight should have gone to a third round.

When Rich Attonito broke his hand, his spot in the quarter-finals became open.

Due to the controversial loss to Ring, White selected McGee to fight in his place.

In the quarter-finals, McGee was set to have a rematch with Ring, but Ring pulled out of the competition due to a knee injury.

James Hammortree stepped in as Ring's replacement.

Early in the second round, McGee submitted Hammortree with a rare standing guillotine choke.

In the semi-finals he faced teammate Brad Tavares to earn a spot in the live finale.

After a fairly even first two rounds, McGee dropped Tavares late in the third round with a left hook and locked in a fight-ending rear naked choke.

This advanced him to the TUF 11 finale where he faced Team Ortiz/Franklin fighter, Kris McCray in the main event.

McGee spent half of his training camp away from his usual gym "Victory MMA", instead preferring to stick with his Ultimate Fighter coach, Chuck Liddell at The Pit.

McGee defeated McCray by submission in the second round with a rear naked choke, making him the winner of the Ultimate Fighter Season 11, despite all the difficulties and bad luck he encountered on the show.