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.
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.
UFC 307: 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,”
