How Khalil Rountree Jr Earned The Opportunity For UFC Gold

Published on 1 October 2024 at 18:00

Rountree Jr has been awarded the biggest fight of his life, with many of the MMA community seeing it as a big success for the California-born fighter, while others believe it is very controversial.

The War Horse made his UFC debut at the Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale, but would lose by unanimous decision to Andrew Sanchez. Despite his loss, Rountree Jr would still be contracted to the UFC.

The Los Angeles-born mixed martial artist would suffer his second loss in the MMA promotion after being submitted by Tyson Pedro at UFC Melbourne.

The knockout artist finally earned his first win in the organisation after Daniel Jolly by first-round knockout in just 52 seconds at UFC Houston, before earning his second consecutive KO win at UFC Glasgow, defeating Paul Craig in the first round in enemy territory.

Rountree Jr would fight in his first PPV event at UFC 219 against Michal Oleksiejczuk, losing by unanimous decision. However, the bout was overturned to a no contest Oleksiejczuk had tested positive for an anti-estrogenic substance.

The Southpaw fighter would earn his third first-round knockout win in the UFC after defeating Gokhan Saki at UFC 226, increasing his unbeaten streak to four.

His fortunate run would come to an end when Rountree Jr faced Johnny Walker in the UFC's first visit to Argentina, suffering his first knockout loss of his MMA career which came in the first round.

Redemption would happen at UFC 236 for The War Horse when he earned a convincing and dominant victory over Eryk Anders.

Rountree began to have a downfall in his next two fights, losing by first-round TKO to Ion Cutelaba at UFC Copenhagen, before earning an unanimous decision loss to Marcin Prachnio at UFC 257.

The incredible rise of the Light Heavyweight contender began to happen when he claimed a redeeming win at UFC Vegas 36, defeating Modestas Bukauskas by second-round TKO.

By 2022, Rountree earned a second-round TKO win over Karl Robertson at UFC Vegas 50, before triumphing over Dustin Jacoby at UFC Vegas 63 by split decision.

The War Horse earned two more knockout wins in 2023, first beating Chris Daukaus by first-round TKO at UFC Vegas 78, before a third-round TKO win over former title challenger, Anthony Smith, at UFC Vegas 83.

Rountree was meant to face former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jamahal Hill, in the Co-Main Event of UFC 303, but the #8 contender was forced to withdraw from the event after taking a banned substance. 

On 17th August, Dana White announced that Rountree would face Alex Pereira in the Main Event of UFC 307 at Salt Lake City for the Light Heavyweight Championship.

It was quite a surprise for some as Rountree was only the #8 contender in the 205-pound division and was ruled out of his last fight due to takings a banned substance, even though it was not on purpose.

It may have been seen as the only clear title fight to make due to the state of the Light Heavyweight division, as some of the top contenders were either fighting very soon or had only just fought and would not have enough time to prepare for a title bout.

With Rountree currently standing on a five-fight winning streak, it still looks as if he deserves the opportunity and it will prove to be an exciting stand up fight between two knockout artists.

Pereira will be the fourth former GLORY Kickboxer that the Californian has faced in the UFC, defeating Gokhan Saki, Karl Robertson and Dustin Jacoby which will make it an interesting test for the King of the Light Heavyweights.

 

Written by Charlie Oxtoby

 

Instagram: charlie_oxtoby

MMA Instagram: undisputed._.mma

Twitter: Charlie_Oxtoby1

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