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Rountree received an unexpected title shot against Pereira at UFC 307 last year. While Rountree was a massive underdog going in, he won the first two rounds on every scorecard. However, “Poatan” turned the tide in the third round before finishing Rountree in the fourth.
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Rountree recalls that he had forgotten that he was up two rounds going into the fourth stanza. While coach John Wood asked Rountree to hang tight for the next two rounds, “The War Horse” went for broke instead, making himself vulnerable.
However, Rountree didn’t repeat the those mistakes when he headlined UFC Baku opposite Jamahil Hill last weekend. While some called it a lackluster outing, Rountree outclassed Hill on the feet on the way to a unanimous decision win. Rountree says that he chose to be economical when he knew he had already roped in a round. Rountree nearly ended up sweeping the scorecards, earning tallies of 49-46, 50-45 and 50-45 from the cageside judges.
Khalil Rountree Explained Measured Approach vs. Jamahal Hill
“One of the things that scarred me the Alex fight was that — I remember after the third round finished, John Wood said to me, ‘10 minutes left, just stick in there for 10 minutes.’ And in my mind I was so emotional, that kind of just made me, ‘send it.’ I didn’t really consider that I was up two rounds, down one and I kind of could have backed off a little bit in the fourth round in that fight,” Rountree said on his YouTube channel. “But I just went balls to the wall in that fight, which kind of put me in danger. So this time I just made sure that I used my time effectively… During different exchanges, I would know when I was up. So I’m like, ‘OK this is my round.’ So once I felt like I had the round then I was able to just pull back a little bit and not get greedy.”
😅Khalil Rountree didn’t know he was winning in the Alex Pereira fight:
“I didn’t really consider that I was up two rounds…
I could’ve backed off in the fourth round, but I just went balls to the wall which put me in danger.”
🎥 @khalilrountree ▫️ pic.twitter.com/ojARLXSneq
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 23, 2025
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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