Marcus McGhee keeps head down on 'hard road' to UFC title - MMA Junkie

Marcus McGhee is swallowing his pride in order to give himself the best opportunity to make it to the top.

For the second straight fight, McGhee (11-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) fights backward against unranked opposition. This assignment is Oct. 3 vs. Bernardo Sopaj at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City.

"It's still going to be a good test," McGhee told MMA Junkie Radio shortly after receiving the news. "Obviously, the plan stays the same for me. I need to go out there and put a stamp on exactly who I am and why I'm ranked No. 10 in the world in the Meta rankings. Again, every single one of these guys is tough. You start getting into these situations, and it's like, I'm 36 years old. You really don't want to be fighting back when you're this close to the top, trying to make that title run. But I keep getting these fights back behind me after fighting the current champion. I just have got to take what I can get and keep on going out there and making a statement."

McGhee is 36 and coming off a unanimous decision win over John Yannis in June. His opponent, Sopaj (13-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC), is 25 and rides a two-fight winning streak into the bout, having defeated Ricky Turcios and Timmy Cuamba consecutively. Despite the difference in life years, McGhee doesn't see that much difference in fight years.

"I think that does play a part in certain fights," McGhee said. "I'm not a young man as far as my age goes. But I'm a young man in body, spirit and mind. Again, he's fighting a young man. He's not fighting an old guy who is on his way out. He's not fighting somebody who is beat up and broken and who's been through crazy wars. I'm very methodical, and I'm very intelligent about how I approach this game. He'll be fighting a young man as well. I do think these old men have been showing these guys that 'Hey, we're not going nowhere.' Half these guys might not be here when they get to this age. I'm grateful to be at this age, grateful to be able to test myself at this age. But I still feel like I'm growing and I haven't primed out. In my particular experience, I don't think that's going to play a very big part in this at all."

The road to the title won't be easy. McGhee recognizes that. It may help his stock, however, that the one marquee opportunity he got was the only loss of his UFC tenure – and it came in July 2025 against Petr Yan, the man who now holds the promotion's bantamweight title. McGhee went all three rounds with him.

"The way the road looks now, it looks like a hard road," McGhee said. "I think I just keep my head down and just keep grinding and just keep on putting in the work I've been putting in this whole time. Even before I got in the UFC, no one knew me. No one expected or had these high expectations for me. I didn't do it for the expectations. I did it because I wanted to be the best in the world. I think I've just got to keep on taking these guys out as they keep coming and do it emphatically.

"The more emphatic I win these fights, the closer and the faster I get back to that. But again, I still feel like a young man. I'm not rushing it. I do understand the game and the politics behind it all. Obviously, I plan to make a statement out here and I plan to fight a top-10 opponent after this fight and keep on chipping my way up there. I do think just going out there and having dominant performances will get me back into that conversation."