A fast-rising American fighter marched into a $1 million final using a dangerous finishing move few experts had ever seen before

• A 25-year-old American has quickly developed into one of the must-see attractions in all MMA.
• Competing in the Bellator MMA Grand Prix featherweight semi-finals, AJ McKee advanced into the $1 million final by submitting his opponent with a move many experts had never seen before.
• Because it's so new, McKee may well get to name it. The frontrunner so far is the "McKee-otine" which is a play on the technical term guillotine.
• Watch the McKee-otine right here.

A fast-rising American MMA fighter called AJ McKee marched into a $1 million final using a dangerous finishing move few experts had ever seen before.

It all went down at Thursday's behind-closed-doors Bellator 253 event inside the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.

McKee's featherweight match against Darrion Caldwell headlined the show, and did not disappoint.

The 145-pound fight served as a semi-final for the Bellator MMA Grand Prix — a tournament structure which has cemented McKee's reputation as one of the most exciting, brilliant, and skillful mixed martial artists competing for the Santa Monica-based fight firm.

McKee beat Caldwell in the first round, and just as he had in previous matches in the competition, the way he won sent shockwaves through the MMA world.

So unusual was the submission that even seasoned MMA analysts struggled to describe it.

"I'm not sure if I've seen that technique McKee used in an MMA fight," the ESPN MMA reporter Marc Raimondi said.

"But he clearly had it mapped out, locked in and hipped into it. Absolutely wild. McKee is the real deal."

The MMA analyst for CBS Sports, Luke Thomas, said: "I have no idea what that's called. It's a crank from guard using the RNC [rear-naked choke] bicep grip squeeze and hip extension like a guillotine. F------ awesome!"

Thomas later added the name for the new submission could be called the "McKee-otine" — a play on the technical term guillotine.

Watch it right here:

—BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) November 20, 2020

"McKee-otine? I like that!" McKee said to reporters at the virtual press conference after his win.

"I never have seen a submission like that," the Bellator MMA boss Scott Coker said. "The new name is the McKee-otine? That's the first time, for me."

The win advanced McKee's undefeated pro MMA record to 17 wins (six knockouts, six submissions, and five decisions).

It also propels him into the Bellator Grand Prix final where he'll vie for a $1 million prize, and the Bellator featherweight championship. He'll fight the winner of the other semi-final between the current champion Patricio Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez.

Freire last week scored a rapid, savage, first-round KO win, and is presenting his case as the greatest Bellator MMA fighter in history.

A potential match between Freire, a hugely-accomplished mixed martial artist, and McKee who calls himself the "new wave," has all the makings of a historic fight.

Read more:

Floyd Mayweather announces a return to the ring for a boxing exhibition on February 28

One of the UFC's scariest knockout artists has warned nobody is 'bulletproof,' and says he'll KO everyone in his weight class

Rafael dos Anjos sliced Paul Felder's face open in a bloody 5-round war, then called-out Conor McGregor for a 155-pound fist-fight

An American called Khaos Williams scored a 30-second KO and UFC boss Dana White said it's 'one of the most vicious' he's seen

A bare-knuckle boxer scored a 3-second knockout Friday and set a new record for the fastest KO in BKFC history