Khalil Rountree Jr had a teammate fearing for his life after the pair appeared to come face to face with ‘Bigfoot’ during the final days of training camp.
The light-heavyweight title contender is due to face Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 307 this weekend. But he had something much scarier in mind as he pulled a prank on one of his training partners during a recent episode of UFC Embedded.
Rountree Jr has been staying with his team in Salt Lake City ahead of the big fight, likely to acclimatise to the altitude in the mountain town. And he seems in good spirits if the first episode of the show is anything to go by.
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Khalil Rountree Jr pranks teammate with ‘Bigfoot’ sighting
During training camp, Khalil Rountree Jr was made aware that his teammate Darryl King Walker had a fear that they would run into Bigfoot while staying in the mountains. The mystical creature is a large, hairy, human-like figure who is said to live in the woods in America.
There is minimal proof of such a creature existing, but Rountree told cameras that once he had learned of his pal’s phobia he plotted a big prank. “Darryl is afraid of Bigfoot,” he explained, while showing off a suit he had provided for one of his coaches to wear.
“He’s mentioned it many times. So we thought it would be funny to bring Bigfoot to Park City and scare the hell out of Darryl tonight, he’s going to s*** himself for real. Former PFL and UFC star Cory Hendricks was given the task of wearing the costume and heading downhill while they went for a late night run.
From there, they pretended to hear noises, leading Walker to become concerned about what might be lurking in the woods. And when they spotted him with their flashlights, they immediately came home and barricaded the doors.
While strength and conditioning coach Lorenzo Pavlica brandished a gun, Rountree guarded the door and Walker held on to a shovel. They eventually succumbed to ‘Bigfoot’ and allowed him in, before revealing the prank to Walker, who was clearly terrified by the ordeal.
Khalil Rountree Jr’s teammate reacts to comical ‘Bigfoot’ prank
Once Hendricks revealed who he was, Walker went from terrified to full of relief, quickly hugging his teammate. The whole crew appeared to take the joke in good spirits, with Rountree noting that they had planned the prank for a long time.
“I thought we really faced Bigfoot right now,” Walker told the Embedded cameras afterwards. “I thought it was something.”
Rountree then added: “The day you told us you were scared of Bigfoot, we were like ‘yeah, yeah’. Then we were like ‘oh this guy’s serious’. So we started formulating this plan. Level 1-10 scared, how scared were you?”
Walker replied that he was far above that scale, joking that when he saw Hendricks he was at a 12 or a 20. He then wrote on Instagram: “These mofos got me good! I was about to throw hands with Bigfoot, then realized I left my courage at home.”
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