Khalil Rountree Jr was stunned into silence when he stepped into the arena that he will be fighting in this coming Saturday for the first time.
This coming Saturday, the UFC lands in Azerbaijan for the first time ever with UFC Baku, headlined by a light heavyweight fight between former champion Jamahal Hill and longtime contender Khalil Rountree Jr.
The two were scheduled to fight each other at UFC Kansas City but after Hill withdrew, the fight was bizarrely rebooked to main event in Azerbaijan.
This will mark Rountree Jr’s first fight back since his unsuccessful title fight against Alex Pereira last October at UFC 307.
Rountree Jr stunned after seeing UFC Baku arena for the first time
With this being the premier promotion’s first event ever in Azerbaijan, fighters may not have been sure what to expect from the arena they’re fighting in.
However, in Rountree Jr’s first look of the Baku Crystal Hall, he was left stunned after seeing how unique the arena is compared to arenas in the United States.
“My heart is racing, but it’s beautiful, this is incredible, I’m at a loss for words right now, honestly. I didn’t expect it to be this amazing,” Rountree Jr said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“It’s so cool, I don’t know, you know how other arenas are higher up, this is really wide so there will be a lot of floor seats. The walk to the cage will be a good walk, it’s not usually that far away,” Rountree Jr continued.
The capacity of the unique arena is 12,000 seated, growing to 27,000 with standing room, with it guaranteed to be raucous come Saturday night.
Khalil Rountree Jr concerned by jet lag ahead of UFC Baku clash
As ‘War Horse’ fights out of Las Vegas, he has had to make the 11,500km journey, which can take up to 20 hours on an aeroplane.
And with that, the former title challenger has admitted he has been hit pretty heavily by the jet lag and is hoping it wears off come fight night.
“I’m telling you, the jet lag is real! It comes in waves but we’re fighting it, Chris and I are fighting it like we’re fighting two men vs a gorilla, the gorilla is the jet lag,” Rountree Jr admitted.