UFC light heavyweight Khalil Rountree enters his bout with Jamahal Hill at UFC Baku in the main event on Saturday night off a tough loss in his first title bid.
Rountree (13-6) challenged then champion Alex Pereira at UFC 307 falling short of the win. A fight will Hill, a former UFC champion himself, may be what gets Rountree back into the title picture.
“My thoughts on this fight are that I’m prepared. My last fight was against Alex and it didn’t go my way,” Rountree told reporters on Wednesday.
“It was a tough fight. I gave everything that I could, but that wasn’t the end of me. I learned a lot, I went back to training, and fixed everything that I needed to fix to just become a better fighter. A champion fighter. I’m coming as prepared as I can be to get the victory on Saturday.”
Custom shorts and a main event in the UFC’s first visit to Azerbaijan against a former champion keeps Rountree’s stock rather high. Even with a loss in his last fight Rountree has become more popular than ever.
“Although people are now starting to know who I am, specially after the last fight with Alex, I think one thing that’s forgotten is I’ve been in the UFC now for over 10 years. I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon. It’s fair to say that I could get custom shorts,” he said.
“The only thing that I feel right now is appreciation.”
A win over Hill, specially if it’s an impressive performance, could score Rountree a title shot against Magomed Ankalaev who defeated Pereira at UFC 313.
“A win over Jamahal Hill definitely puts me in the talks of being a title contender again. Whether it’s Magomed Ankalaev, or anyone else,” he said.
“There’s nothing guaranteed. I don’t look past this fight. My goal is to win over Jamahal Hill and to do it in a way to where there’s now talks of me fighting again for the title.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Khalil Rountree above. He takes on Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC Baku this Saturday.
