As UFC 307 in Salt Lake City looms ominously over the horizon, light heavyweight king Alex Pereira remains a significant betting favorite over sizable underdog, Khalil Rountree Jr.
Yet despite those wide lines from the Las Vegas bookies, there are those within the MMA community who are standing firm in their prediction that ‘The War Horse’ will shock the world this weekend in Utah – including former welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.
Usman predicts Khalil Rountree will ‘shock the world’ and beat Alex Pereira
After breaking down the entire main card of UFC 307 via the Pound-4-Pound podcast, Kamaru Usman revealed that he’ll be going against the grain this weekend as he sides with Khalil Rountree Jr.
“I’m going to shock everybody here; I think that Khalil Rountree shocks the world,” claimed Usman, who was quick to offer a wry smile as he noted “crazy things happen in Utah,” i.e., Leon Edwards’ iconic headkick.
“Khalil Rountree is extremely explosive, extremely powerful, his Muay Thai is incredible and when he’s launching them [shots], he’s going to find your face,” stated the popular welterweight.
And he’s bang on in that regard; Khalil Rountree has seven knockout wins in the UFC, one more than Alex Pereira, with four of his last five fights ending via vicious KO/TKO.
“The problem is his pace, when Khalil lets go, he lets everything go so how is he going to do in rounds three, four and five if the fight somehow gets there – that’s my only concern.
“But in those first two rounds, I’m telling you right now that Khalil Rountree is as dangerous as anyone who Alex Pereira has fought [before]; I’m telling you right now.”
Considering Rountree’s incredible journey to UFC 307, Usman also pointed to the ‘feel good factor’ that would come from hearing ‘And New’ in Utah; with a significant portion of fans viewing the upcoming title fight as a win-win type scenario for the ‘good guys’ of MMA.
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“With his story and everything that he’s been through, man – what a way to cap that [career] off by letting the world and future generations know that you can start here, completely change your life, and end there.
“He was extremely overweight, depressed and dealing with mental health issues and now [he’s] completely flipping his life where Khalil Rountree could potentially be light heavyweight champion of the world.”
Rountree entered the UFC in 2016 back when Alex Pereira was still competing in the world of professional kickboxing, yet Usman believes that it’s Poatan who will be the more experienced fighter come Saturday evening.
“Now Alex Pereira is a bit more seasoned in terms of his standup being complete and Alex ain’t going to get tired, from start to finish Alex Pereira is going to be in this fight – that’s the only edge I’d give to Alex Pereira here.”
That being said, if the main event of UFC 307 is to turn into a stand-and-bang type of contest, Usman believes that the veteran underdog will have far more than a puncher’s chance of becoming the new light heavyweight king.
“If they’re both slugging, if they’re both thumping, I think that Khalil Rountree has a good of a chance as anybody in that division.
“Listen, Alex Pereira is the king of Brazil, he’s doing his thing, and I like him but just to shock the world, I think Khalil Rountree can get this done.”
Alex Pereira vs Khalil Rountree Jr goes down this weekend, live from Salt Lake City in Utah – what do you think of Usman’s prediction; And Still, or And New?