Light heavyweight king Alex Pereira retains his UFC championship title with a brutal fourth-round finish over an insanely tough Khalil Rountree Jr out in Salt Lake City; his third successful title defense of 2024.
Despite the UFC 307 main event ending in dominant fashion for the Brazilian superstar, Khalil Rountree Jr can hold his head high as the man who undoubtedly gave ‘Poatan’ his toughest fight to date at 205lbs.
Dana White reacts to Alex Pereira’s brutal knockout win over Rountree at UFC 307
Whilst Khalil Rountree Jr was able to find some success on the feet, the damage would slowly mount as the title fight entered the championship rounds with the Brazilian ultimately earning the knockout victory deep into the fourth.
At the UFC 307 post-fight press conference, Dana White would not only celebrate the outstanding achievements of Alex Pereira, who is now 9-1 in the UFC and arguably the promotion’s biggest active superstar, but the incredible level of toughness displayed by ‘The War Horse’.
“What this guy [Pereira] has done is unbelievable, and the way that he’s done it; this guy destroys everybody… This guy always wants to fight, and I mean he’s 38 too – it’s not like he’s 28 and he’s got this many fights [left in him]but we’ll see how it all plays out [as to what’s next].
“What a helluva fight, I mean Khalil Rountree is another level of tough,” praised White, who admitted it was ‘awesome’ to see someone hold their own on the feet with such an acclaimed kickboxer.
“He had no fear from the first round, Khalil Rountree went in there and started going at it from the minute that the bell rang; no fear, no jitters, no nerves – maybe he did, but he didn’t show it… He went right in there against one of the baddest dudes of all time and just started mixing it up with him, it was awesome.”
“You have to respect this guy, [but] did this not play out the way everybody thought it would? Everybody at first was like ‘Oh he’s ranked number 8 blah blah’ but you knew that it was going to be a bada** fight, you knew it was going to be bada**.
White continued praising the staying power of Rountree as he claimed that the key factor in the fight wasn’t the jab that ultimately caused the severe damage to Rountree’s face, but the lowkick that crucially took away his base.
“You can never measure heart, you never know how that’s going to go, well now you know.
“I felt like the difference was the low leg kick, and when he started calf kicking him, he was destroying that leg and he was having trouble putting pressure on it, his punching power, his movement, everything; he just started systematically picking him apart.”
Dana White was certainly not the only one who was impressed with both the performance of Pereira and the toughness of Rountree, with MMA social media awash with reactions from fans and fighters worldwide.
Alex Pereira improved his professional record to 12-2, whilst Rountree drops to 13-6.
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