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Khalil Rountree isn’t supposed to be here
No, Khalil Rountree isn’t supposed to be here. He is not supposed to be fighting Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 307 with the light heavyweight title on the line. It is supposed to be Magomed Ankalaev. But that’s just the thing, Khalil Rountree is here. He’s fighting the new face of the UFC and aims to take his title to claim himself as the new king of 205.
A path of violence
I would imagine having the soft-spoken Khalil Rountree narrating his highlight reel would be kind of funny. A man as eloquent and quiet as he is shouldn’t be capable of such violence. But then you see the highlights.
Stomping in the knees of opponents, vicious ground and pound, one hitter quitters, Rountree has done it all. His most recent win was a smashing of former title contender Anthony Smith.
He took years off of Eryk Anders’ life with their fight in 2019. Karl Roberson felt his wrath. Khalil Rountree is the literal epitome of violence.
Khalil Rountree taking chances
Khalil Rountree shouldn’t be here, once again. Everyone believes Magomed Ankalaev as the next contender that is getting the short end of the stick at UFC 307. What if Rountree wins? Ankalaev doesn’t get his shot at the face of the UFC.
None of that matters to Khalil Rountree. He was called. He is getting the shot. He is fighting the face of the UFC. He gets the opportunity of a lifetime. Should he win, he beat the man, he likely scored an emphatic knockout, and his future is bright ahead.
Should he lose, it may have been a bit premature to put Rountree in a title fight coming off of a six month suspension. He can build back and get back to the title shot again, especially considering that he’s at light heavyweight which isn’t a particularly deep division.
Does he have a shot?
Everyone is bound to say that Khalil Rountree has a “puncher’s chance” which is a nice way to say that they don’t think he has a chance at all. But the opposite is true. Khalil Rountree has a great chance to beat Alex Pereira at UFC 307.
First, Pereira isn’t some iron chinned machine that walks through punches. We’ve seen him hurt by Israel Adesanya twice, once knocking him out. His defense isn’t perfect, either. Pereira gets tagged a fair amount.
While someone is bound to say, “This is exactly what a puncher’s chance means!” I believe that if Rountree connects, he can put Pereira away. But this idea is not some far flung idea that is a far fetched idea that has nearly no chance of happening. Khalil Rountree has done this time and time again. Anthony Smith, Gokhan Saki, Karl Robertson, and others have had this happen to them.
It’s just this time, Khalil Rountree will have nuclear warheads pointed back to him. Mutually assured destruction will be thrown by the wayside. It’s time for war.
