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Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer
SIX YEARS AGO, analysts Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz were seated at the commentary table for the opening fight of the UFC 226 main card in Las Vegas. The light heavyweight bout featured Gokhan Saki, a former world kickboxing champion the promotion was keen on, against Khalil Rountree Jr., a relatively unknown 28-year-old with a 2-2 record inside the Octagon.
With Saki and Rountree circling each other, Rogan and Cruz shared their honest thoughts on the matchup as the fight began.
“Staying in the pocket against a guy like Gokhan Saki and turning this into a kickboxing fight is very dangerous,” Rogan said about Rountree. “His best bet is to get these exchanges going and set up a takedown.”
“I agree with you, Joe,” Cruz added. “And I think that really it’s just a matter of time. That’s the problem when you do straight standup …”
Cruz never got to finish that thought. Rountree interrupted with a devastating left hand to Saki’s chin, which put him down for good (and ended up being his final MMA fight). The result was shocking. Saki, known in some circles as the “Turkish Tyson” due to his punching power, was considered one of the most dangerous strikers on the planet. He had 59 career knockouts in kickboxing, and it took Rountree a mere 96 seconds to render him unconscious.
“Khalil Rountree Jr. shutting everybody up,” Rogan said, “including us.”
In Rogan and Cruz’s defense, no one expected Rountree to stand toe-to-toe with a world kickboxing champion. No one except for Rountree himself. And possibly Saki. A few months before that fight on July 7, 2018, Rountree and Saki had run into each other at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas and made a gentleman’s agreement on any future fight between them.
No takedowns.
“We actually shook hands and agreed there would be no takedowns,” Rountree told ESPN. “That fight was originally booked in 2017, but he [Saki] got injured and it was canceled. When I saw him at the PI, I told him, ‘As soon as you’ve recovered, I want that fight again.’ And he said, ‘OK, but we have to stand and bang.’ And I made the agreement right there. I said, ‘If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.'”
Rountree (13-5, 1 NC) has made a similar promise for his upcoming light heavyweight title fight against Alex Pereira (11-2) at UFC 307 on Saturday in Salt Lake City. There’s been no formal shake of hands between them, but Rountree and his coach, John Wood from Syndicate MMA, have welcomed the challenge of a kickboxing match with Pereira, a multiple-weight champion in both kickboxing and MMA. The two fighters combined have one takedown attempt (Pereira in 2022) across 24 UFC fights. Wood has even gone as far as to predict Pereira will look to wrestle them.
“I think he’s the one who breaks game first and shoots on Khalil,” Wood said. “We ain’t shooting over here. I can tell you that.”
On the surface, that might sound like your typical prefight bluster. There’s no way Rountree intends to willingly stand with Pereira for the entire fight. Or at least, there’s no way he should want to stand with Pereira for the entire fight.
But then, that’s what was said about the Saki fight six years ago. No one knew the story behind Rountree or the confidence in his stand-up back then. Ahead of UFC 307, perhaps it’s a good time to hear it now.
ROUNTREE WAS A 20-year-old, 305-pound sandwich specialist at Jimmy John’s in Las Vegas when he walked into the legendary Wanderlei Silva‘s gym on March 1, 2010, intending to lose weight. He remembers the exact date because it’s the day he changed his life.
Rountree’s father, Roderick “Khalil” Rountree, died in 1992 when Khalil was 2 years old. His father was a road manager for Boyz II Men and was on tour with the band when he was shot and killed during an attempted robbery at a Chicago hotel. Rountree never knew his father, and he believes that played a part in what turned into a restless childhood.
“I didn’t have a dad growing up, which is why I wasn’t courageous, why I didn’t play sports,” Rountree said. “I think it’s why I dealt a lot with self-loathing. I had a single mom, who struggled to raise four kids alone. I didn’t have somebody giving me this sense of, ‘Go outside and be adventurous.’ My mom was more like, ‘Stay inside, where it’s safe.'”
Rountree struggled to find that courage until he found MMA. Out of the gym, he was an introverted, overweight kid who wore black eyeliner and kept to himself. Inside the gym, he was something very different. He was a 6-foot-1 athlete, something he’d never been before, with visibly natural punching power. And in MMA, especially at that point in time, doors will open quickly for that type of athlete.
“Less than six months into training, I was sparring with Wanderlei,” said Rountree, referencing the former Pride champion. “That was when he was getting ready for UFC fights against guys like Chris Leben and Brian Stann, and they were basically just throwing anybody into the ring that was around his size. I would get my ass beat, but I always packed a punch. I think that’s what earned me a little respect, even though I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Pretty much immediately, Rountree’s weight began to drop. His skills increased, and he took his first amateur fight in 2011. He turned pro in 2014. Around that same time, he moved back to his home state of California, which he’d left for Las Vegas at age 5, to take a managerial position at a fight memorabilia shop. The relocation came with a change in gym, to the renowned Black House MMA in Los Angeles.
At Black House, Rountree became a regular training partner of one of the greatest fighters of all time, longtime UFC champion Anderson Silva. When Silva assembled his camp for a fight against Nick Diaz in 2015, Rountree was a part of his inner circle. Silva eventually turned into one of Rountree’s most reliable mentors. He lived in Silva’s house during one of his camps for an early UFC fight, and was a groomsman in Silva’s 2017 wedding.
In addition to Silva, Rountree sparred with former Black House champions Lyoto Machida and even Glover Teixeira, who coincidentally became one of Pereira’s head coaches and mentors in 2020 and will be in his corner on Saturday in his fight against Rountree.
“Khalil was a great teammate, great human,” Black House co-founder Ed Soares said. “He was a great training partner right away, because he was always ready to stand and bang. He had heavy hands, everyone knew that, and he always moved forward. He had all of the ingredients you wanted in someone for the team.”
If you didn’t know Rountree sparred with Wanderlei Silva when he was 20 and Anderson Silva when he was 25, you’d think he would have no right to welcome a standup fight with Pereira. Those who do know his story, though, know different.
“What’s happening behind the scenes is what’s going to show that night,” Wood said. “Just his speed, technique, vision, everything. What Alex brings right now, that whole ‘Boogeyman’ air of invincibility, that’s going to bring out the best in Khalil, it really is. And when you have the best of Khalil, you’ve got a scary, scary thing on your hands.”
WHEN THE UFC first announced Rountree would challenge Pereira for his title in August, the news was met with confusion.
Rountree is No. 7 in ESPN’s light heavyweight rankings, well below another potential challenger in Magomed Ankalaev (19-1-1). The No. 2-ranked Ankalaev has never faced Pereira and could have been available to fight him. He’s scheduled to fight Aleksandar Rakic, who is ranked No. 5, at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi. The confusion was enough that Ankalaev accused Pereira of ducking him, and UFC CEO Dana White was asked for an explanation.
“[Ankalaev] didn’t get skipped over, he’s [already] got a fight coming up,” White said during an August news conference. “We had to make this [UFC 307] fight card, and as you go down the line, it’s clear Rountree makes a lot of sense. Timing is everything.”
Rountree is also receiving a title shot fresh off a drug suspension, which forced him to withdraw in May from a scheduled fight at UFC 303 against Jamahal Hill. Rountree was suspended by the UFC and the Nevada State Athletic Commission for taking a banned substance. He self-reported the violation after realizing a supplement he’d been advised to take by an independent nutritionist contained DHEA, an anabolic steroid. Both the UFC and NSAC acknowledged Rountree took the substance unknowingly, which resulted in a reduced punishment.
Still, Rountree doesn’t sound like a threat to Pereira on paper. Pereira is in the midst of one of the best 12-month campaigns the sport has ever seen. He became a two-division champion last November, in a second-round knockout of Jiří Procházka at Madison Square Garden. Since then, he has headlined two landmark events in UFC 300 and UFC 303 (filling in for the injured headliner, Conor McGregor). All three of his wins over the last year have come via knockout.
Pereira has already said he eventually intends to chase a third title at heavyweight, a feat that has never been accomplished in the UFC. He’s favored (-525 via ESPN BET) to cruise past Rountree in the UFC 307 main event.
Maybe he will. To paraphrase Rogan six years ago, Rountree has a chance to shut everybody up. He’s done it before. And even for those who still don’t like his chances against the seemingly unstoppable Pereira, understanding Rountree’s story will at least explain why he’s up for the challenge of a standup fight.
He really didn’t know who he was until he started MMA at age 20. He knows who he is now, and he’s confident in that.
“My story hasn’t been shared because I’m not a champion, man,” Rountree said. “That’s really what it is. And that’s a big part of my motivation to become a champion, because I know a lot of important things have happened to me along this journey and I think there are a lot of inspiring pieces to it. I could have never imagined experiencing the things that I have and I think hearing my story could encourage people that if you feel stuck, if you don’t have any direction, you are still in charge of your own destiny. In a way, I’ve manifested all of this.”
Perhaps the world will find out who Khalil Rountree Jr. is on Saturday.