Khalil Rountree is riding an impressive five-fight win streak in the UFC, earning him a title shot against the light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira. Four of these wins came via knockout; from the looks of it, he aims to win at UFC 307 similarly.
Interestingly, Rountree has never attempted a takedown in his UFC career, which began as early as 2016. He’s trained in Thailand to hone his skills in Muay Thai which unsurprisingly is his favorite mixed martial art.
“The War Horse” has frequently showcased explosive striking and fans are naturally curious to see how it will fare against “Poatan”. Here’s how the light heavyweight championship contender plans to get it done at UFC 307 without amending his fighting style…
Khalil Rountree Explains Why He Won’t Grapple Against Alex Pereira At UFC 307
Rountree discussed his next fight on the Believe You Me podcast hosted by Michael Bisping, recently. Despite Israel Adesanya having success on the ground against “Poatan”, the contender will rely on his striking to get the victory.
Rountree stated that he’s achieved everything in his MMA career through his striking prowess. As a result, he doesn’t want to change his core fighting style ahead of arguably the most important fight of his career.
“It doesn’t make sense. I’m not a wrestler! Like, yes, I’m a mixed martial artist, I’m able to do a lot of, you know, different things. My grappling’s good, you know, my wrestling’s decent. But that’s just not me. It’s not my instinct, you know. And, so like, why would I put myself in harm’s way to try to secure this victory when that’s just not me!”
When asked how he would react if his coaches suggested him to wrestle Pereira, here’s what Rountree had to say:
“If my coach were telling me, hey, this is the way, I’ll be like, man, then, like, who are you coaching? Because, this has never been the game plan. Why at the height of my career would we switch everything we’ve ever done, you know what I Mean, to try to like secure a victory? Like where’s your belief in what I do?”
Rountree further discussed what went wrong when Pereira’s former opponents like Jiří Procházka and Jan Błachowicz stepped into the Octagon. He believes that the UFC light heavyweight champion simply had an answer for all their tactics, and one can’t blame the strategies used by these former light heavyweight contenders.
All in all, fans can look forward to a classic striking match between Rountree, a Muay Thai expert, and Pereira, a heavily accomplished kickboxer, at UFC 307.
