It took Ion Cutelaba less than a round to do what Alex Pereira did in nearly five.
Once a top-15 contender in the light heavyweight division, ‘The Hulk’ Ion Cutelaba has lived up to his nickname on multiple occasions. Whether it’s painting himself green at the weigh-ins, screaming at his opponents or clobbering them with punches, the Moldovan destroyer always comes to fight.
Coming off back-to-back wins over Ivan Erslan and Ibo Aslan, Cutelaba returns this weekend at UFC 315 against Modestas Bukauskas with a potential ranking on the line.
A fighter who’s shared the Octagon twice with current champion Magomed Ankalaev, Cutelaba has a spectacular win over the #7-ranked contender in the world, former title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr.
As you may recall, Rountree Jr. entered deep waters with then champion Alex Pereira, winning the first two rounds of their title fight at UFC 307. The muay thai specialist dropped Pereira before he had his nose broken, losing by TKO late into the fourth round.
Ion Cutelaba elbowed Khalil Rountree Jr. to the canvas in 2019 fight
After putting up a great fight against Glover Teixeira, a fight in which he lost, the UFC matched up Cutelaba with a highly-touted Rountree Jr. at a time his hype was through the roof.
Having trained muay thai extensively in Thailand, Rountree showed new wrinkles to his game with a dominant four-knockdown performance over former UFC headliner Eryk Anders in the fight prior.
In typical Cutelaba fashion, ‘The Hulk’ marched towards Rountree Jr. as announcer Bruce Buffer introduced him, having to be separated by security before the fight even started.
Within two minutes, Cutelaba walked through Rountree’s best shots on the feet and took him down three times. The third takedown was the beginning of the end for Rountree Jr. as the muay thai striker ate hellacious elbows from the bottom position.
Cutelaba continued to land elbows as Rountree Jr. slowly worked his way up, only to be tripped with Cutelaba firing a multitude of elbows and punches. Cutelaba elbowed Rountree Jr’s face in twice before the referee decided he had seen enough, calling a stop to the contest 2:35 into the opening round.
Pereira took a different approach to fighting Rountree Jr, increasing his striking output in rounds 3 and 4 to wear down Rountree Jr. for a finish at 19:32 last October.
Khalil Rountree Jr. dismantled Ion Cutelaba’s next opponent
At UFC 315, Cutelaba will meet former Cage Warriors Champion Modestas Bukauskas.
Bukauskas and Cutelaba share a common opponent in Rountree Jr. with the former title challenger shattering Bukauskas’ knee in a 2021 fight.
Rountree Jr. fired an oblique kick to his opponent’s knee to TKO him in the second round, ending Bukauskas’ UFC career with a ACL and MCL tear and starting his own title run towards Alex Pereira.
The horrific loss left Bukauskas without a job but ‘The Baltic Gladiator’ fought his way back to the premier promotion after a championship win in Cage Warriors.
Bukauskas has won six out of his last seven fights. His next opponent Cutelaba has won three out of his last four, ‘The Hulk’s’ grappling much improved at 31 years old.
As for Khalil Rountree Jr, the top contender returns in the main event of UFC Baku across from Jamahal Hill on June 21.