UFC News & FeaturesThe Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday lands in Salt Lake City for the third year in a row and does so with a pair of title bouts atop the bill. Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira returns to action, and while Khalil Rountree was not on anyone’s mind as the next title challenger, their UFC 307 main event should result in an entertainingly violent encounter at the Delta Center. Beyond that, the women’s bantamweight division finds itself in the spotlight. Raquel Pennington aims for a successful first title defense against former champion Julianna Pena, and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison lurks further down the draw as the obvious next No. 1 contender if she can get past Ketlen Vieira. Meanwhile, Jose Aldo suits up for the second time in five months to try and turn back another rising young talent in Mario Bautista at 135 pounds, and middleweights round out the lineup with a showdown between Roman Dolidze and Kevin Holland that could go any number of ways.
Now to the UFC 307 “Pereira vs. Rountree” preview:
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UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
#2 P4P | Alex Pereira (11-2, 8-1 UFC) vs. #8 LHW | Khalil Rountree (13-5, 9-5 UFC)ODDS: Pereira (-535), Rountree (+400)
The Pereira business continues to be a boon for the UFC, as he steps in once again to headline another card where the company had no obvious main event—the third time he’s done so in 2024. Given that Pereira figured to be a short-term curiosity when the UFC signed him in 2021, it’s safe to say he’s overachieved in becoming one of the promotion’s most reliable high-level fighters. An elite kickboxer, Pereira had dabbled in mixed martial arts over the years but only truly committed himself to his new sport shortly before his UFC debut. It was a move prompted by trash talk from then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, an old rival of Pereira from their kickboxing days. The plan seemed clear from there: Get Pereira to a title shot against Adesanya via the easiest path possible. Given that Pereira was—and mostly remains so—a one-dimensional striker, both “Poatan” and the UFC matchmakers would have to thread a needle to do so. The middleweight division obliged. After two setup wins, Pereira earned a title shot with a knockout of Sean Strickland. That set Pereira up for a two-fight series with Adesanya that proved a boon to everyone involved. Their first fight went much the same as their kickboxing bouts, with Adesanya winning the balance of the encounter before getting knocked out, while the rematch saw him return the favor in a major bit of catharsis. With the Adesanya rivalry over for the time being, Pereira—who’s seemingly absolutely massive no matter what division he competes in—decided to cut less weight and ply his trade at light heavyweight. He’s revitalized the division in the process. Jan Blachowicz nearly ended the fun before it started, turning things into enough of a grind that Pereira only won a split decision, but the Brazilian wound up winning the vacant belt in his next fight, with wins over Jiri Prochazka (twice) and Jamahal Hill all turning into entertainingly violent affairs that have seen him knock out opponents foolish enough to strike with him. To that end, it seemed sure that Dagestani wrestler Magomed Ankalaev would be up next for Pereira, but instead, the UFC has decided to hold off on that idea for a bit longer, moving down the rankings and going with the most exciting challenger available in Rountree.
Merit aside, even getting within breathing distance of a title shot is an impressive bit of business towards Rountree, who’s dug his way out of busted prospect status. An absolute terror on the feet, “The War Horse” was a clear favorite to win the 2016 season of “The Ultimate Fighter” but quickly got undone by his lack of a ground game, both over the course of the season and in his subsequent UFC fights. There was little consistency in Rountree’s career from there. His wins were still among some of the most violent and electric results in the sport, but he would also often seemingly find a way to lose—whether via getting knocked out himself, taken down or just having fights where he didn’t pull the trigger. A 2021 defeat to Marcin Prachnio, which was one of the latter type of fights, seemed to be the final straw as far as the hopes that Rountree would finally put it all together, particularly since he had teased retirement shortly beforehand. Instead, Rountree’s found himself on the best run of his career, with five straight wins. He’s still purely a striker, but he’s now remarkably consistent, as shown by his winning a war of attrition with Anthony Smith via brutal third-round knockout to cap off his 2023 campaign. Rountree hasn’t been in action since—another bit of context that makes the timing of this title shot a bit strange. He was slated to fight earlier this year, only to be briefly suspended due to self-reporting his ingestion of a tainted supplement. Even if this should probably be Pereira defending his title against Ankalaev, it’s hard to argue with this level of promised violence, particularly since Rountree has a shot at an upset. Neither man has enough defense to feel entirely safe against the knockout threat he’ll be facing, so it wouldn’t be a shock if Rountree won that race to a finish. With that said, there’s a clear choice here given each man’s resume if this is going to wind up as a pure kickboxing match. The pick is Pereira via first-round knockout.
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Pereira vs. Rountree
Pennington vs. Pena
Bautista vs. Aldo
Harrison vs. Vieira
Holland vs. Dolidze
The Prelims
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