Khalil Rountree Jr.’s training camp for Jamahal Hill didn’t go according to plan.
After a UFC title fight loss to Alex Pereira last October, light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree Jr. is back in the win column.
The talented Muay Thai striker put on an absolute clinic over the weekend, dominating former champion Jamahal Hill to a decision victory in the UFC Baku main event.
Reflecting on the top contender fight, Rountree says the road to Baku was anything but easy, having suffered a massive injury that kept him from sparring during his training camp.
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Khalil Rountree Jr. says he tore his meniscus three weeks out from Jamahal Hill fight
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rountree revealed he had a torn meniscus three weeks before his five-round fight with Hill.
“I’d say about halfway through training camp I think when I was training jiu-jitsu is the first time I felt some discomfort in my knee,” Rountree explained.
“Just from training with bigger guys and just doing four sessions per day on top of like running and jiu-jitsu and pads. That’s when I first started feeling the discomfort.
“It only just kinda grew from there until one day I woke up and it was just really hard for me to walk and even stand,” Rountree added.
“It was obviously stressful,” Rountree said of the torn meniscus injury.
“But I had just amazing positive support to just keep going and to not let it affect my mental and to do whatever I could to just push through it and to take challenges and to take things like this as just kind of motivation. Like use the obstacle as motivation.
“So, initially I was devastated and I wasn’t really able to train how I wanted to. But it was kind of a blessing in disguise because tonight I came into the cage really fresh because I haven’t been able to spar in three weeks.
“There hasn’t really been a lot of contact because the last three weeks have just been recovery on top of getting sick during fight week,” Rountree said.
Khalil Rountree Jr. could be a win away from another UFC title shot
Prior to fighting Jamahal Hill, Khalil Rountree Jr. thought he could potentially bank a title shot with an impressive enough win.
However, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Magomed Ankalaev wasn’t so interested in Rountree afterwards, saying he was ‘falling asleep’ during his fight.
With a top-5 ranking coming this week, Rountree is likely a win away from fighting for the title again.
Two possible opponents for Rountree are #2-ranked contender Jiri Prochazka and the #3-ranked Carlos Ulberg following his main event win at UFC Baku.