Khalil Rountree didn’t leave Salt Lake City with the UFC light heavyweight title this past October following his brutal battle with Alex Pereira, but he believes he left the octagon with a whole lot of different accomplishments.
“First time in my life, I would have never imagined that that outcome of a loss — it was great,” Rountree told MMA Fighting. “I didn’t come home with the belt, but I came home with just countless fans and and respect from fans around the world, and that, to me, it meant a lot and it means a lot.
“Even to this day, it’s very surprising the amount of fans around the world that were touched by that fight. So it’s good. It’s very good.”
Rountree is now set for his first fight of 2025 when he faces former champ Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC Baku. After competing in his first big main event fight, and facing a guy like Pereira who had captivated the minds and imaginations of so many fans — both old and new — Rountree knew that when another chance to headline for the UFC came around, he would be doubly prepared.
“Yeah, multiple moral victories,” Rountree said. “I think that it allowed me to experience the five-round fight for a title against a guy like Alex. So experience was really the the main takeaway in that fight. What an incredible experience and I learned from it and and just realized like, ‘OK, I got there, fell a little bit short.’
“I know what it feels like, and it just motivated me to just continue to work hard.”
Rountree had plenty of up and down moments in the fight with Pereira but showed tremendous grit and determination throughout.
In the fourth round, the tide turned in the favor of “Poatan” for good, delivering an ungodly beating on Rountree that busted up the challenger’s face to the point where he was nearly unrecognizable. Despite taking so many big shots, Rountree kept coming, kept taking punishment, and when he had any opening, tried to deliver it back.
As he prepares to face another knockout artist in Hill, Rountree now realizes how far he can take things if danger presents itself.
“I think that I proved to myself how far I was willing to go,” Rountree explained. “Before it was over, had he not put me down with that shot, I would have just kept going. My entire face would have probably been even more mangled than it was. I wasn’t going to give up and, obviously, it hurt after emotionally and physically, but I rose up from it because I went through the fire. I think going through the fire really builds character, especially when, when you know that… I knew that I gave my best and I knew that [there was] not one moment in that fight was I ever discouraged or wanted to quit.
“It just helped me kind of have some pride and just like this energy. I got this rock of gold, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool, I can store that and I can hold on to that for myself.’ [That’s for] no one else but myself.”
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