THE CANADIAN PRESS

It's been almost five years since Court McGee died. And the mixed martial arts fighter from Orem, Utah, is still talking about it.

It was a Sunday and McGee had the day off. He was in a dark place in those days, his life a downward spiral of addiction.

"I was drinking and I was using all day. I'd shot up a whole bunch that day," he recalled in an interview with The Canadian Press. "Right before I went to bed, I was just going to do the last shot (of heroin) and I ended up shooting up just a little bit too much.

"I knew it right as soon as I did it. I got a little cold sweat and that was it, man. I passed out. Luckily my cousin and her friend found me and they called 911."

When the paramedics arrived, they went to work with CPR and then defibrillation. McGee was clinically dead at 10:56 p.m., then revived.

It was both the end and the beginning.

On Saturday, a sober McGee looks to open another door as he takes on middleweight Kris McCray in the live finale of Season 11 of "The Ultimate Fighter."

The winner earns a contract to fight in the UFC.

McGee, who has battled far worse demons than McCray, reckons he has done all he can to get ready for the fight.

The 25-year-old spent half of his training camp in San Luis Obispo, Calif., working with former light-heavyweight champion Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell -- his coach on the reality TV show -- and coaches John Hackleman, Howard Davis Jr. and Sammie Henson. He also spent time in San Francisco with fighter Jake Shields and Los Angeles with coach Scott Epstein.

Most recently he finished up his camp in the 1,430-metre altitude of Orem.

"I've done everything I can do and I'll leave the rest up to God and let him take care of it," said McGee, a former plumber whose nickname The Crusher comes from his days bending pipes into submission. "And if he thinks I'll be in the place where I'm of maximum service to others, whether it means I don't so well or I do, then that's exactly where I'll be and I'm OK with that.

"But throughout this whole experience, if I can help just one person make a slight change in their life and know that they don't have to go through the shit that they're going through and they're in that drug life and that there's a way out, if I'm any sort of inspiration then this will all have been worth it -- win, lose or draw, doesn't matter."

McGee, whose first name is short for Courtney, is just happy to be alive.

"My life has dramatically changed. I can't even express to you in words how grateful I am for the small things. I mean I live in a shitty little apartment and I don't make a lot of money. I don't have a lot of nice shit. I don't have a nice vehicle. I have bills like everybody else and I'm absolutely 100 per cent grateful and happy.

"I wake up happy every day and it's because this shitty little apartment is my apartment. This job that I have is what I love to do and the payout is that I can better take care of my family."

That would be wife Chelsea and son Isaac. Another child is on the way.

McGee and Chelsea go back a while, although she left him at one point -- unwilling to put up with his lifestyle -- to teach English in Russia. The two hooked up again, reuniting in a bowling alley, and have been together ever since.

McGee grew up in Layton, Utah, where he wrestled and studied karate. Unable to find a college in Utah with a wrestling program, he went to Weber State in Ogden, Utah, with a chip on his shoulder.

"I just held that against everybody. I started hanging with the wrong people and drinking and doing drugs. And it became more frequent over the next year."

A couple of injuries led to his use of OxyContin. Things went from bad to worse and Chelsea walked away from him.

"She left and things really went off the deep end."

McGee shared some of those stories with his colleagues on "The Ultimate Fighter," recalling an incident that followed one drink in Las Vegas.

"Four days later I was in Iowa with no pants on and a long shirt in somebody's basement looking for meth," he recalled.

McGee lost friends and family.

"I was such a horrible person that no one wanted to be around me."

After surviving the heroin overdose, he had to rebuild himself physically and mentally.

"Thirty-two days later I still had no idea what state I was in," he said.

His family gave him one more chance and took him to rehab. The date was Sept. 9, 2005.



"I relapsed a couple of times," he acknowledged. "I wanted to try and go out and see if I could have a beer or have some alcohol. I couldn't just have one, I had to have all of them.

"So I stopped April 16, 2006 and haven't had a drop since."

He started helping out with the wrestling team at Layton High School. That prompted him to return to training and he gradually started learning boxing and jiu-jitsu.

He made his pro MMA debut in April 2007 and has lost just once in nine fights, dropping a decision to UFC veteran Jeremy Horn in December 2007.

McGee tried out Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter," but failed to make the cast. In January, he gave it another shot, borrowing the money he needed to get to the open tryouts in Los Angeles.

His message to the show's producers was simple:

"I've a pretty good record, I fought some good dudes, and think I'm good enough to get on here and win this thing. And not to mention if maybe someone can get some inspiration from my story and maybe try something different than using and drinking, then maybe I can be a role model for young kids or anyone around the country or around the world that's having drug problems. And that's what I told them."

He made it this time, but with little fanfare. He won his opening fight to get into the final cast for Season 11 but was the third-to-last pick when teams were picked.

He lost a controversial decision to Calgary middleweight Nick Ring -- McGee, like UFC president Dana White and others thought the fight should have gone to a third round. But White was able to give him a second chance when Ring subsequently had to step aside because of a knee injury. McGee was back in the game and won his way to the final.

McGee looks every inch the fighter, with battered jug ears framing a head with a buzz cut up top, beard below and intense eyes inbetween.

White called him the dark horse of the show. McGee just kept fighting.

So what was it like, being stuck in a house with 13 other fighters, denied access to outside world for six weeks other than to fight and train?



"It was a hell of a lot better than jail and it was better than rehab," said McGee, who says he spent time on and off in jail "for different shit" in his distant past.

Back home these days, McGee takes pleasure in his family and friends, training, and fishing or enjoying the outdoors.

Most of all, he enjoys being alive, pointing to son Isaac.

"He's three years old and he's never seen me drunk or high and he's never seen me ornery," said McGee. "Because when I use to drink and booze and get high and get loaded, I used to be ornery and mean.

"And I'm not like that anymore."