Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira will defend his title for the third time this year against the up-and-coming knockout artist Rountree. And while the likes of Tom Aspinall have revealed how quickly they would take to the ground with Pereira, Rountree has made it clear that he wants to stand and trade shots with the Brazilian.
This statement comes despite pundits and fans’ opinions about Pereira’s ground game not having been exploited yet. They believe it could be a chink in his armor.
However, Rountree is not interested in taking ‘Poatan’ down. In fact, he wants to go toe to toe against arguably one of the hardest hitters this organization has ever seen.
In an with The Schmo, the light heavyweight title contender spoke about why he won’t oblige with experts. Claiming that he is going to be there to put on an amazing fight for the crowd, Rountree said,
“So check this out, in my career, I’ve never shot one takedown. That’s not in my plans. I’m here to put on an amazing fight for the fans.”
Khalil Rountree says he has no plans of taking down Alex Pereira in their fight
“In my career, I’ve never shot one takedown. That’s not in my plans.
I’m here to put on an amazing fight for the fans.”
@TheSchmo312 #UFC #MMA #UFC307 pic.twitter.com/VEYR1KxBcY
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 20, 2024
Rountree believes this fight is for the fans. A KO artist vs. another KO artist is a recipe for an amazing fight. And that is exactly what ‘The War Horse’ intends on putting on for the fans.
He believes takedowns are not part of his natural game plan. It is not something he has been doing so far, so there’s no point trying it now.
Now regardless of his promise of delivering a great fight, not everyone is happy to see Rountree get the title shot next. Former champion Jamahal Hill even called out the UFC for not giving it to the ever deserving Magomed Ankalaev.
Ankalaev deserves title shot
Magomed Ankalaev is one of the names fans have been calling for Alex Pereira to fight as many believe that Pereira needs to be paired against wrestlers and grapplers to truly test his mettle as a champion.
And Ankalaev has been that guy for years now. He’s never been defeated since he started fighting for the UFC, back in 2018. That’s 6 years without a loss. The Russian has even called out Pereira many a time for the title shot but to no avail.
As it turns out, former champion Jamahal Hill believes the UFC does not like Ankalaev and spoke about why he didn’t get the title shot in a recent YouTube video,
“They do not like this dude and every time I’m reminded of that I am shocked at how bad they do not like this dude. They skipped over him and went to number 8.”
⚡️Jamahal Hill Reacts to UFC Favoring Khalil Rountree Over Magomed Ankalaev for Title Fight
“They [UFC] don’t like this dude [Magomed Ankalaev]. Every time I think about it, I’m shocked by how much they hate him. They skipped over him and went straight to number 8.”
YT… pic.twitter.com/V2QAQcebaY
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 17, 2024
It will be interesting to see if Khalil Rountree is able to justify getting the title shot when he faces Pereira. Either way, Pereira will eventually have to face Ankalaev before he makes a move back to middleweight or venture into heavyweight.
