With UFC 306 done and dusted, fans look forward to witnessing the return of Alex Pereira. The UFC light heavyweight kingpin bagged the title in November 2023 and has already defended it twice against Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 and Jiří Procházka at UFC 303.
Although the consensus was that Magomed Ankalaev should be next in line for the light heavyweight belt, the UFC has handed Khalil Rountree a shot at “Poatan”. Ankalaev, on the other hand, will look to solidify his claim to the title by beating Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 308.
Rountree and Pereira are known for their striking prowess, but the former’s coach believes that the champion may resort to wrestling at UFC 307…
Khalil Rountree’s Coach Explains Why Alex Pereira Is More Likely To Shoot For A Takedown At UFC 307
John Wood, Syndicate MMA’s head coach, recently discussed Rountree’s title fight on the official ESPN MMA YouTube channel. Like “The War Horse”, he admitted that shooting takedowns is not part of their strategy.
Wood agreed with interviewer Brett Okamoto that the UFC 307 main event will most likely be a stand-up battle, with both fighters focusing on landing knockout blows rather than combinations. However, he also revealed his gut feeling that Pereira will shoot a takedown on Rountree.
“In a nutshell, yes. I believe, honestly, my gut, I think Pereira shoots on Khalil. I think he’s the one that breaks game first and shoots on Khalil to try to get that takedown. Um, because that’s actually something he’s done. I mean we ain’t shooting over here I can tell you that.”
While Rountree has yet to shoot for a takedown in his entire UFC career, Pereira once relied on wrestling when he took down Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. Based on this, Wood predicts that “Poatan” might try to take Rountree down if he feels threatened on the feet.
Another point that the coach emphasized is that the fight is unlikely to last five rounds. The light heavyweights possess dangerous knockout power and only need one shot to end the bout.
It is worth noting that Wood also coaches Merab Dvalishvili who just won the UFC bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306. The Syndicate MMA team must be high on confidence which could benefit Rountree before arguably the biggest fight of his career.
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