The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale: McGee Versus McCray

The eleventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) came to an end last night and finalized the line up for the finale with Court McGee (9-1) facing off against Kris McCray (5-0) in the finals.

The two men will go to war to determine who will become the TUF season 11 champion and earn the six-figure contract from the UFC.

Court was a true dark horse coming into the competition but one Fighters.com and MMA Gospel Radio felt was highly promotable due to his background story.

Court has stated he is a drug addict. His story is one of redemption after being clinically dead from a heroin overdose.

“I’d lie, cheat, steal. I didn’t have anything. I pawned the majority of the [expletive] I had. I didn’t have anything. I lost pretty much everything I had. Life wasn’t looking good. Guys at my workplace didn’t want me around and I got switched from crew to crew. My life was horrible. It was nothing. I was a waste,” he told Yahoo Sports.

His first venture into black tar heroin is one he will never forget. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” McGee says. “I remember what vein it was in. I sat there and he made one up in a spoon. He shot it, just a little bit, and I remember I fell back in my seat and two tears rolled out of my eyes. They hit my earlobes and I just went ‘Ahhhh.’”

Court tells us about the night his life changed when he took that does of heroin that had him declared dead.

“At the time, they were using Meth and the rule was nobody in the house but me,” McGee says. “They walked in and saw this girl there and they were angry right away. ‘Who the [expletive] are you?’ They were freaking out that she was there. And she was freaking out and yelling back, ‘I think he’s dead. I think he’s dead.’ “

After coming back to life Court spent time in a rehab facility and as with most addicts he relapsed a few times. Once, as talked about on TUF, he took a drink in Las Vegas and wound up in Iowa with a long sleeve shirt on and no pants, unsure of how he’d gotten there but craving Meth.

His turn-around came on April 16 2006, Easter Sunday where he quit drinking and doing drugs for good. He has been sober ever since. Hoe fought drug addiction and now faces another fight, the fight to become “The Ultimate Fighter”.

Standing in his way is a very tough Kris McCray. Kris began studying martial arts at the age of 12 with Tae-Kwon-Do and Karate. As Kris got older he played many other sports but none gave him that excitement he felt from wrestling and kickboxing.

After a successful high school wrestling career, Kris went off to college, while teaching high school wrestling in his spare time. Kris entered the U.S. Army Reserve at age 21, spending 6 years in service. During this time, Kris began learning Jiu Jitsu and joined Team Gold Medal Grappling, a Master Lloyd Irvin affiliate. Kris also worked many odd jobs to support himself, ranging from taking tickets at a movie theater to bouncer, security guard, butcher, and anything else he could do to make ends meet.

Kris started fighting amateur MMA in 2006/2007 and went undefeated, with a record of 10-0-0. His talent caught the eye of MMA promoter S. Marcello Foran and in October 2008, Kris began fighting on the professional MMA level. He quickly became a rising star in the UWC – Ultimate Warrior Challenge. After going 4-0-0 (all first round victories), it was clear Kris was ready to test himself against the best in the world.

Now he sits ready to make a name for himself and earn the six-figure contract that all the men entering TUF 11 wanted to call their own. He had a hard road to the finals actually setting a TUF record of fighting five times.

This will be a battle of two very good wrestlers who also love to stand and bang. Fighters.com expects this to be one heck of a fight that will likely end up being a stand-up war.

The official line up for “The Ultimate Fighter 11″ finale is as follows:

MAIN CARD

Matt Hamill vs. Keith Jardine
Court McGee vs. Kris McCray
Chris Leben vs. Aaron Simpson
Spencer Fisher vs. Dennis Siver
Rich Attonito vs. Jamie Yager

PRELIMINARY CARD

John Gunderson vs. Mark Holst
Seth Baczynski vs. Brad Tavares
Josh Bryant vs. Kyle Noke
Chris Camozzi vs. James Hammortree
Travis Browne vs. James McSweeney