Light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree Jr., who challenges reigning champion Alex Pereira for the 205-pound strap atop the UFC 307 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. night (Oct. 5, 2024) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, has a secret, never-been-seen-before technique that could help facilitate the end of “Poatan’s” reign as division kingpin.
Sensei Seagal would be proud.
“I definitely do have something that has never been seen before, ever,” Rountree Jr. told ESPN MMA. “When I was talking to Joe [Rogan] and I told him ‘Yeah, I have plans to do this hopefully in my next fight’, at that time I didn’t know that I would be fighting Alex. There are guys in the division that I can see it working on 100 percent, there could be a possibility of this happening, this move, this technique happening, it’s possible. Am I hunting for it? No, [but] if it presents itself then everyone will know, ‘Oh s**t, that’s it, that’s what he was talking about’.”
Rountree Jr. first teased the technique with Joe Rogan back in July.
“After we’re done with this, I’m going to show you this sick sweep thing that I’m working on,” Rountree Jr. told Rogan. “It’s like it’s really cool, I’m going to show it to you and then when you see me do it in a fight you’ll be like ‘holy s**t.’ It’s unseen, unheard of, and it’s a mixture of like what I’ve learned, like some Muay Thai concepts and like mixed with what I’ve been learning in my jiu-jitsu.”
He may have to break this promise to pull it off.
The 34 year-old Rountree (13-5, 1 NC) is the winner of five straight, with four of those contests ending by way of knockout. That includes his UFC Vegas 83 destruction of one-time title challenger Anthony Smith as part of UFC Vegas 83 back in late 2023.
Regardless, Pereira remains the odds-on betting favorite.
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