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Down, Not Out
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The light heavyweight challenger had some surprising things to say about his tough loss to ‘Poatan’ in Salt Lake City.

Khalil Rountree Jr. may have come up short against Alex Pereira at UFC 307, but his performance in the first half of their fight undoubtedly raised his stock in the eyes of many fans (watch the highlights here).

Coming into Salt Lake City, many questioned why the UFC was even booking the No. 8 ranked light heavyweight to fight Pereira for the 205 pound title. But not only did “War Horse” keep his word that he wouldn’t shoot a takedown against “Poatan,” he won the first two rounds on the feet, according to all three judges’ scorecards.

But as fatigue set in and Pereira’s leg kicks broke down his movement, Rountree slowed and what worked in the early rounds no longer worked. Pereira started piecing him up in the third round, and the fourth turned into a bloody beatdown that ended via TKO with just under 30 seconds to go. Through it all, Khalil remained game and kept fighting back. It was a valiant effort, if not enough to defeat the reigning champion.

In a new post on Instagram, Rountree reflected upon the defeat.

“I didn’t win the title but I grew last night,” he wrote. 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.”

“Brazil, you guys have a strong champion, be proud,” he added. “I will take time to heal from this. I’ll be back even better, it’s inevitable. I’m grateful. Never give up on yourself, always fight hard, uplift your communities, and find ways to make the most out of life. Delta Center thanks for hosting us. UFC 307 was a night to remember.”

The picture Rountree chose for his post is worth a thousand words: Khalil moments after the loss, with his eye cut open and his nose split with an X like an anime character … smiling. Legitimately happy to have experienced the fight. Coming up short, but knowing he gave it his all.

We’re looking forward to seeing what he does after some time off to heal up. After a performance like that, he’ll undoubtedly have a lot of new fans.

For complete UFC 307 results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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Julianna Pena had the chance to start promoting her next title defense after reclaiming the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 307 but instead turned her attention to an unlikely rematch against a fighter who is currently retired.

Following a controversial win over Raquel Pennington in the UFC 307 co-main event, Pena was asked about what’s next for her and a split screen showed Kayla Harrison backstage waiting to react after she defeated Ketlen Vieira earlier in the night to earn a title shot. Rather than acknowledge Harrison, who the UFC is pretty clearly naming as the No. 1 contender, Pena asked for a trilogy against Amanda Nunes, who called it a career back in June 2023.

“I will say this — she dropped the ball on the callout,” UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said when addressing Pena after UFC 307 ended. “I mean Kayla’s on the screen. Say her name. Why no sell the person that is clearly going to be your No. 1 contender?

“There is no world where she does not fight Kayla Harrison. She’s fighting her next. You might as well put the sell on it.”

Harrison moved to 2-0 in the UFC with a unanimous decision win over Vieira in the opening bout on the main card on Saturday. While not as dominant as her debut performance against former champion Holly Holm at UFC 300, Harrison still delivered a win against one of the UFC’s top ranked challengers to cement her spot as the rightful contender at 135 pounds.

During the broadcast, Harrison could only shake her head in disappointment as Pena called for the Nunes fight despite UFC color commentator Joe Rogan specifically mentioning the two-time Olympic gold medalist as her most likely next opponent.

Cormier believes Pena should have started building towards that fight now rather than waiting because there’s almost no world where Harrison isn’t her next opponent.

“Don’t wait until the fight is announced,” Cormier said. “Now you’re a step behind when you had the opportunity to be a step ahead going into your fight with Kayla Harrison, who will be the No. 1 contender for your championship as we go forward.

“Tonight, it’s not like Kayla Harrison looked the best. Kayla’s looked better. Tonight she looked like a girl that needs to get takedowns and if she doesn’t, she is still in the very early stages of her striking. Julianna Pena should’ve after this performance been more willing to say her name.”

While he wasn’t a fan of her callout, Cormier did offer congratulations to Pena on becoming a two-time champion with her win over Pennington.

As much as the scorecards came into question after the fight, Cormier still praised Pena for putting on a gutsy performance and bringing a title back to the same gym that UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad calls home.

“The one thing you can never question about Julianna Pena is her toughness,” Cormier said. “She will be a deserving champion.

“At the end of the day, she becomes the champion again and Mike Valle and his team out at Valle Flow now have two UFC champions on their roster. Massive for a gym that is out of Chicago that isn’t a massive, huge gym.”

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The UFC and BMF champions will collide when the octagon returns to Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26.

The company officially announced the UFC 308 main card during Saturday’s UFC 307 broadcast, with 145-pound titleholder Ilia Topuria defending his throne for the first time since stopping Alexander Volkanovski. He faces Max Holloway, a former featherweight king who recently claimed the BMF belt with a epic knockout over Justin Gaethje at lightweight.

The co-main event will feature Robert Whittaker battling undefeated Khamzat Chimaev in a pivotal middleweight contest. Chimaev hasn’t competed since scoring a majority decision over Kamaru Usman in October of 2023, while Whittaker walked through Ikram Aliskerov this past June, obliterating the man that stepped in a replacement for Chimaev in Abu Dhabi.

Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan will open the UFC 308 main card, followed by Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic in a contest that could define the next contender for UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. The third bout on the list is Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige.

Below is the full fight card and bout lineup for UFC 308.

Main card, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV

Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway

Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev

Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige

Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

Preliminary Card, 10 a.m. ET, ESPN+

Geoff Neal vs. Rafael dos Anjos

Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai

Said Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Santos

Abus Magomedov vs. Brunno Ferreira

Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Justin Tafa

Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo

Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nursulton Ruziboev

Ibo Aslan vs. Raffael Cerqueira

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Khalil Rountree Jr. didn’t come away with the win in his attempt at becoming light heavyweight champion at UFC 307 but he still walked away with some valuable lessons.

That’s the message Rountree relayed in his first statement after falling to Alex Pereira via fourth round knockout to cap off the latest pay-per-view card from Salt Lake City. Despite a valiant effort to pull off the upset, Rountree came up short but still showed a ton of heart while battling it out with one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in sport.

“I didn’t win the title but I grew last night,” Rountree wrote 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.”

While he wasn’t necessarily considered the No. 1 contender when he got the fight, Rountree certainly made the most of the opportunity.

He came out guns blazing as soon as the fight started and attempted to take Pereira’s head off in almost every exchange. Unfortunately as time passed, Rountree started to run out of gas and Pereira took over.

By the time the fourth round was nearing an end, Pereira had busted up Rountree so badly that he had blood just pouring down his face and chest. The final sequence saw Pereira deliver a pair of vicious punches to the body before one last uppercut that dropped Rountree to the canvas.

The referee immediately swooped in to stop the fight before Rountree took any further damage.

Thanks to several gnarly cuts that he suffered during the fight, Rountree was immediately taken to a local hospital for treatment so outside of his post-fight interview, he didn’t get a chance to address his performance until Sunday.

“Brazil, you guys have a strong champion, be proud,” Rountree said. “I will take time to heal from this, I’ll be back even better, it’s inevitable. I’m grateful. Never give up on yourself, always fight hard, uplift your communities and find ways to make the most out of life.”

Even in defeat, Rountree raised his stock with that kind of fight and it’s tough to imagine he won’t have another big opportunity awaiting him when he competes again.

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