While Jamahal
Hill believes Khalil
Rountree possesses some traits that could give Alex
Pereira problems, he ultimately expects the Brazilian to emerge
victorious in the UFC 307
headliner.
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Pereira will defend his light heavyweight crown against Rountree on
Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City Utah. Rountree will
take a five-bout winning streak into his championship opportunity,
but he has yet to fight beyond the third round during his
promotional tenure.
“It’s gonna be a knockout, 100% it’s gonna be a knockout. Khalil
doesn’t have a five-round gas tank and he’s gassed at paces that
were much slower than the pace that he’s gonna have to fight with
Alex,” Hill recently told Aljamain
Sterling on the Weekly Scraps podcast.
“Alex is gonna come out slow. He’s gonna come out and take his
time… Although he does look like he just wants to feel out, he’s a
lot more forward-imposing than he looks.”
However, Hill says that Rountree’s left-handed tendencies could
give the reigning champion some problems.
“The things that Khalil has going for him is that he’s a southpaw
and he has valuable threats from southpaw… I haven’t seen [Pereira)
dominate a southpaw that has multiple threats from southpaw… If you
have weapons from southpaw, he struggles. He definitely struggles,”
Hill said.
Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order
Now!
Hill last appeared at UFC 300, where he sufffered a first-round KO
loss to Pereira in the evening’s main event on April 13. “Sweet
Dreams” was openly critical of Rountree receiving the next title
shot, especially after “The War Horse” was pulled from their
booking at UFC 303 due to a failed drug test. Hill ultimately was
also forced to pull out of the event after suffering multiple knee
injuries, scrapping a bout against replacement foe Carlos
Ulberg. Despite his feelings about the fight itself, Hill plans
on attending UFC 307 to see how the light heavyweight title picture
will unfold.
“Yeah I’m gonna go out there just because it makes sense, it
affects what’s next for me and things like that,” he said. “I
haven’t changed my tune, it’s a weird booking but it is what it
is,”