Light Heavyweights
#11 LHW | Khalil Rountree (12-5, 8-5 UFC) vs. #8 LHW | Anthony Smith (37-18, 12-8 UFC)It is time for the latest chapter of Smith’s strange but surprisingly successful run at 205 pounds. A solid journeyman for about a decade as a middleweight, Smith moved up to light heavyweight and immediately became a title contender, finishing Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua and Volkan Oezdemir to earn a shot at Jon Jones within a year. It was both an impressive climb up the ladder and a bit damning of the depth of the division at the time, but after clearly dropping his fight to Jones, “Lionheart” has settled in for surprisingly long at the fringes of the title picture. Smith is a bit of an odd fighter, in part because he wears his heart on his sleeve during his fights to an extreme level, but he typically does a solid job of hanging around until he can find an opportunity towards victory and pry it open. However, when he is unable to find an advantage, his toughness usually just leads to him suffering an extended beating. Just when it seemed like Smith was sliding out of relevancy, he put together an ugly win over Ryan Spann in August to affirm his spot in the Top 10. He looks to hold serve here against Rountree.
Rountree took his own long path towards relevance, but he was marked as a prospect to watch almost immediately upon his pro debut in 2014, owing to his physical talent and knockout power. A 2016 run on The Ultimate Fighter showed that “The War Horse” was clearly a work in progress. Beyond some subpar defensive wrestling and grappling, there was a general sense that Rountree was a glass cannon who could be taken out of his game rather easily. By 2021, Rountree had seemingly settled into an action fighter role with inconsistent results, cycling through ideas with varying levels of success. Then everything suddenly clicked beginning with a victory over Modestas Bukauskas. Rountree still might track in on ideas that overcomplicate—or oversimplify—his approach, but he is now fighting with a consistent application of pressure and power that pays plenty of dividends given the violence he can bring to the table. That is probably enough for Rountree to get a win over the finish line in his latest assignment, particularly with Smith’s historical vulnerability to leg kicks. Still, there is the worry that Smith might eventually land on the idea of outwrestling Rountree—a weakness that has not been tested much during California native’s winning streak. With that said, Rountree is the more trustworthy fighter when it comes to fighting a winning fight. The pick is Rountree via decision.
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Song vs. Gutierrez
Rountree vs. Smith
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Jousset vs. Song
The Prelims