Khalil Rountree Jr taking plenty out of UFC 307 loss

Khalil Rountree Jr may have lost to Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 307, but the Brazilian light heavyweight is not leaving Salt Lake City empty handed.

The 34-year-old shared that his clash against the division’s champion has given him new confidence in his abilities.

“I didn’t win the title but I grew last night,” said Rountree in a post on Instagram.

“Alex Pereira, thanks for helping me see that I’m ready to take on the world.

“You showed amazing skill, you brought out a version of me that I needed to experience.

“You’re the champ for a reason, much respect.

“But I now know what I am capable of.

“I will take time to heal from this; I’ll be back even better, it’s inevitable.”

Rountree was a heavy underdog with UFC betting sites in the title fight and was a surprising pick for Pereira’s third title defence.

Despite his underdog status, the Brazilian came out swinging and gave Pereira a run for his money in the first two rounds, landing some clean strikes and threatening to do more.

He eventually flamed out, however, and Pereira inflicted a lot of damage over rounds three and four, leading to an eventual stoppage in the fourth when the champion knocked Rountree to the mat.

Pereira himself was reserved in his post-match comments, simply labelling the fight as “tough” and choosing to focus more on sharing some of the challenges he faced in the lead-up to UFC 307.

“There’s a lot of things that I went through in this camp,” said Pereira, who detailed that he had visa issues, a fever, sore throat, ligament issue and a rib injury ahead of his title defence.

“It was a tough fight, but it was a tough lead-up to this fight, and I actually feel really proud of myself at this moment.”

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