Court McGee went 14 years without a finish – until UFC 307

SALT LAKE CITY – Court McGee beat Tim Means with a first-round submission Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC 307 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Take a look inside the fight with McGee, who picked up an emotional win in front of his home fans in Utah.

Court McGee def. Tim Means

Court McGee

Result: Court McGee def. Tim Means via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:19
Updated records: McGee (23-13 MMA, 11-12 UFC) def. Tim Means (33-17-1 MMA, 15-14 UFC)
Key stats: McGee won Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter” with a submission. His UFC debut was a submission of Ryan Jensen in October 2010. His win at UFC 307 was his first stoppage victory since then – a stretch of nearly 14 years. Somehow, he still got passed up for a post-fight bonus.

McGee on the fight’s key moment

Oct 5, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Court McGee (red gloves) fights Tim Means (blue gloves) during UFC 307 at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

“It was absolutely incredible. Everything we practiced and trained came out in the fight, so it felt like a practice – just a little more intense. (I had a) little bit of adversity in my head when the rear-naked (choke) wasn’t locked up under his chin. It was pretty close and I elbowed back – a short choke is what I call it – and I switched sides and I was like just going to adjust and stay on top and try to land, and I just decided to hammer down and crank on it and got the win.”

McGee on his first submission in 14 years

Oct 5, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Court McGee (red gloves) celebrates after defeating Tim Means (blue gloves) during UFC 307 at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

“It changes the mental game, committing to a submission. I’ve had a couple of submissions on somebody and let them go to get position and then tried to land shots to open up another submission. But tonight, I just went for it. I had it and it wasn’t on technically great, but I figured, hey, let’s go for it.”

McGee on what he wants next

“I’m uninjured, so I can get right back into the gym. maybe I’ll just keep getting better. I’ll talk to Sean Shelby and we’ll get something going. I should probably take a little bit of time (off) – I just neglected my family responsibilities for eight to 10 weeks, and it puts a lot of pressure on my wife and my three boys.”

To hear more from McGee, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.