Cody McKenzie AKA the AK Kid: Bio, MMA & Net Worth

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Cody McKenzie was a UFC fighter from 2010 to 2014. He kept a record of 14-4 win to loss ratio. He even fought the second-best fighter in the UFC.

In 2014, he decided that he did not want to continue fighting for the UFC anymore.

McKenzie shared a lot of insights when he was getting ready to leave the UFC career. He revealed his annual salary, his pay per match, and the working environment of the UFC.

Cody McKenzie posing for a pic after snowboarding
Cody McKenzie posing for a pic after snowboarding (Instagram)

Cody was a promising and hopeful young fighter when he joined the UFC, but what happened that made him regret joining?

He was not a top fighter in the UFC, but he still was a good fighter. So what made him leave the UFC? What was the main reason behind his early leave?

Cody McKenzie | Quick Facts

Full Name Cody Steven McKenzie
Birth Date 16 December 1987
Birth Place Cordova, Alaska, United States
Current Residence Metaline, Washington, United States
Nick Name AK Kid
Religion Christianity
Nationality American
Famous for being UFC Welterweight Fighter
Ethnicity Caucasian
Education N/A
Horoscope Saggitarius
Father’s Name N/A
Mother’s Name N/A
Siblings N/A
Age 36 years old
Height 6 feet (183 cm)
Weight 180 lbs (82 kg)
Hair Color Black
Eye Color Brown
Build Athletic
Hobbies Fishing, listening to music, and reading
Favorite Destination N/A
Profession Pro fighter and commercial fisherman
Marital Status Single
Kids None
Net Worth $200,000
Merch  UFC Shorts, UFC Hoodie
Last Updated March, 2024

Cody McKenzie | Early Life and Education

McKenzie aka The AK Kid was born on the 16th of December, 1987. He was born in the freezing climate of Cordova, Alaska.

The AK Kid has yet to speak about the details regarding his parents. As of now, either of his parents’ names is unknown.

Not much is known about Cody’s early life either; he has not spoken about it much. He has not stated anything about having a sibling too.

Besides his professional fighting and commercial fishing career, not much is known about him.

Regarding his education, no info has been found yet. We will update all the missing information as soon as possible, so please visit the page.

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Cody McKenzie Career

Fighting Career

With a bang, Cody McKenzie made his MMA debut in 2010; he won against his opponent via submission. His finisher mainly was his modified guillotine chokehold which was nicknamed McKenzietine.

He is a Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu-affiliated fighter having an impressive reach of 183 cms.

Cody fought most of his pro-fighting career as a lightweight/featherweight fighter; he has also fought in the welterweight division for the World Series of Fighting.

He competed in The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, the twelfth season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality TV show.

Cody McKenzie was a member of the Team GSP who won the fight via unanimous decision. The score sheet read 50-45, 50-45, 50-45, in favor of Team GSP. 

Besides that, he has also fought for the M-1 Global.

Retirement from the UFC

Cody McKenzie left the UFC life behind complaining that their pay is not up to his expectations and that their treatment is poor.

In December 2014, he retired from the UFC with a 14-4 win to loss ratio. He cited the poor pay per fight and the discouraging working environment as the main reasons for his early leave.

After his last fight, when asked about his decision to leave the UFC. He said,

“I never made a penny in the UFC. I fought for them for years.” He said that he just doesn’t see a point in continuing, “I like martial arts, but there is no money in it.”

McKenzie went on to say that he would continue being a UFC fighter if he was provided with better pay. “I got into it, not for the money, but I want a real house and property and all like that like everyone else.”

Cody McKenzie averaged about $50,000 per annum fighting for the UFC, which was lower than the average American salary.

Likewise, the UFC management did not pay for his medical bills either. They did not even help out in bringing the cornerman.

After speculating his reasonings, he did the right thing—a UFC star, making less than an average American citizen just plain shameful.

Fishing and Farming Career

Although he was a professional UFC fighter, he did not give up his fishing career, which he had been doing long before getting into the UFC.

Since he did not make much from the UFC, his off time from fighting was consumed by fishing.

Cody McKenzie with his pet
Cody McKenzie with his pet (Instagram)

He stated that he had been making good money from the commercial fishing life in Alaska. He also claimed that he made $80,000 in just three months through commercial fishing.

But he also said that fishing is not a stable source of income as he made $5,000 in three months.

At present, he owns a farm and works together with his wife. Not much is known about what type of farming he does.

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Cody McKenzie | Net Worth

After retiring from UFC, Cody stated that he was making $50,000 a year from the fights, but that amount was before expenses.

After paying for the medical bills, paying the gym, paying the coaches and the team, he was left with only $10,000 a year, which did not even cover his traveling expenses.

Imagine being a UFC fighter who fought the second-best fighter in the UFC, but you’re still broke. Good thing he has fishing on the side to keep him afloat. If not, he would have drowned in debt a long time ago.

Keeping all that in mind, our experts have come up with a figure of $200,000. Most of his net worth is credited to his fishing business and his new World Series of Fighting career.

UFC did not elevate his financial status at all. In fact, it did quite the opposite. Before matches, he had to pay for the medical examinations, a $4000 medical test that UFC did not pay for.

Meanwhile, UFC paid him $7000 per match. You can do the math yourself. How much could he have been left with after paying for the traveling expense, food, coaches, his ringside team?

Cody McKenzie | Relationship

Cody seems like a crazy guy; in fact, he is a bit weird, as UFC president Dana White stated, but he had a charming and beautiful girlfriend.

Back when Cody was in UFC, he brought his girlfriend along with him to see the match. While Cody’s match was about to start, the cameraman focused the camera over to Cody’s girlfriend.

People could not believe that a guy like Cody had such a hot girlfriend.

“Shoutout to the cameraman. That was Cody’s girlfriend in the white dress. While he may look like a haggard crazy fisherman… dude got skills,” said the UFC commentator Michael Chiesa.

Cody McKenzie with his then-girlfriend Lynzie in Cabo
Cody McKenzie with his beautiful long time girlfriend Lindsey in Cabo (Instagram)

People do not know her, but lucky for you; we have some info on her; her name was Lindsey Jenkins, and is an NSU graduate. Mrs. McKenzie celebrates her birthday on the 12th of May.

One of the UFC commented, “If you showed me that video without sound and asked me which one is Cody’s girl, I would have guessed the dude with a goatee before her.”

Another comment read, “Did he drug her to make this happen?” MMA fans can be hilarious at times.

Present relationship

Moving on to the present, judging from his Instagram posts, he is still in a relationship with Lindsey. Though the news of his marriage has not surfaced yet, we are sure that they have already married each other.

How can we be so sure? Lindsey had an Instagram account named Lynzie Jenkins, but now she uses another account called Lindsey McKenzie. She has taken his last name.

When she was spotted by the ringside, some fans said that it’s not a big deal for a UFC fighter to have a beautiful and hot girlfriend. They have a great profession, all the money, and great stories to tell.

But look at her now; Cody is not a rich fighter, he works on his farm, but she still decided to stay with him.

Cody McKenzie’s wild last moments in the UFC

McKenzie fought against Sam Stout in December. The fight is memorable not for the rush and excitement but Cody’s attire.

He wore a gym short for the match but did not remove the tag; we do not know for sure if it was intentional or if he forgot to take off the tag.

After the match, he chugged two whole bottles of beer and a few shots before throwing up in the arena after the match.

Apparently, he had forgotten his shorts at the hotel; he had two options: getting back to his hotel and delaying the flight or buying a new one across the street.

Cody made the right decision and bought one from the nearest clothing store. It was white Nike shorts with ‘907’ printed on them, which is the area code of Alaska.

The referee had to remove the tag mid-fight as it was kind of distracting.

UFC president Dana White labeled the issue as ‘amateur hour.’ He commented, “I don’t know. Cody McKenzie is a straight dude. But it’s not Cody McKenzie’s fault that happened tonight; it’s the UFC’s fault.”

“We are here for a show on Fox, and it’s pretty damn embarrassing,” he further added.

Cody McKenzie before the UFC Debut

“I had one friend in high school; now I get over 200 friend requests in a day,” claimed the former UFC fighter in an interview weeks before his debut fight for the UFC.

He had been interviewed during his training time at the gym. During the early days, before joining the UFC, Cody was a hopeful guy, filled with hopes and dreams of making it big.

“I always thought I’d get rich and famous, but I guess you get famous before you get rich,” said Cody before stepping inside the gym for one of the many intense training sessions for the day.

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Cody McKenzie submission expert

A couple of weeks before he was scheduled to debut in UFC, he had a pretty unfortunate incident. Someone had broken into his 1987 Ford Ranger.

Someone might say, ‘Well, it’s just a car, it’s not like his house was robbed,’ which is a fair comment, but he made a lot of history with his car.

“I lived in it in front of AKA (American Kickboxing Association),” said Cody.

Cody was filled to the brim with hopes of being rich and famous, just like a child hoping that Santa would gift him his favorite toy for Christmas.

Before joining UFC, he had an undefeated record of 11-0 with ten wins from submissions.

Cody McKenzie | Trivia

Cody McKenzie appeared in Fight Life, an award-winning mixed martial arts documentary directed by James Z. Feng. The documentary was released in 2013.

His fight with Leonard Garcia was postponed to the 27th of April, 2013, which he won via score ranking; this was his first-ever win via unanimous decision.

Cody McKenzie was set to fight against J.D. Domengeaux in September 2018 at a Tuff-N-Uff event. McKenzie, for some reason, denied providing a sample of his urine for a drug test; he proceeded to provide the officials with fake urine.

Cody McKenzie with his wife Lindsey Jenkins McKenzie in a snowy terrain
Cody McKenzie with his wife Lindsey Jenkins McKenzie in a snowy terrain (Instagram)

This act raised many suspicions. Eventually, a month later, in November, he was suspended for four years by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

The very same thing had happened a year before too. The Italian MMA commission suspended him for refusing to provide his urine sample.

Despite being a welterweight, he fought against Mark Dobie in the Catchweight division at Battle for the Border 3. Cody added some pounds and reached 180 lbs for the fight, which he won via rear-naked choked submission.

After leaving the UFC, he openly tweeted asking the World Series of Fighting president Ray Stefano for a job. He even requested promoters to contact him.

Social Media Links

Cody did not post much often, but he has been putting up pictures quite frequently nowadays. On the other hand, Lindsey seems like a daily poster, but her Instagram is in private mode.

Cody McKenzie’s Instagram: 6.3k followers

Cody McKenzie’s Twitter: 549 followers

Lindsey McKenzie’s Instagram: 540 followers (Private Account)

FAQs

What happened to Cody McKenzie?

Cody McKenzie is now a farm owner; he now works at the farm and his wife. There is no sign of him quitting the fighting life, but there is no activity either.

He left the UFC in 2014 and joined the World Series of Fighting later. After that, he has not been on the highlights anymore.

Who has the best guillotine in MMA?

Cody has a unique understanding and implementation of the guillotine, but he is not the best at it. Alexandre Franca Nogueira is considered the best when it comes to guillotine.

He is also known as the longest retaining the longest title reign in any MMA organization.

Sanjib Sah
Sanjib Sah
Sanjib Sah is an engineer and content writer passionate about sports and athletics. With a background in engineering and a love for all things active, Sanjib brings a unique perspective to the world of sports writing. Whether he is covering the latest trends in sports technology or sharing tips on improving your game, Sanjib's words are always rooted in a deep appreciation for players' hard work and dedication everywhere. In his free time, you can find him hitting the courts or hitting the trails, always looking for new ways to challenge himself and improve his skills.

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