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Khalil Rountree Jr. | Serious and Secure
Las Vegas Native Talks Influence Of Returning Home, Preparing To Face Jiří Procházka
Khalil Rountree Jr. moved home to Las Vegas in between his losses to Ion Cutelaba and Marcin Prachnio, tandem setbacks that feel like they took place an eternity ago given everything that has transpired since.
“I think it’s been everything, honestly,” Rountree Jr. said of the impact of his return home just a few days out from his showdown with Jiří Procházka at UFC 320 on Saturday night. “I’m a Vegas guy — I come from here — and I think that because I’m from here and I’ve done all the other stuff that people travel here to do in my adolescence, the only thing that I have to do here now is train and focus on being in the UFC, going after gold.
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“Although this is home, this is not where I want to spend the rest of my life.”
Following the loss to Prachnio in January 2021, the former Ultimate Fighter contestant rattled off five straight wins, several of them punishing finishes. It was easily the best stretch of his professional career and carried him into a championship opportunity opposite Alex Pereira one year ago in Salt Lake City at UFC 307.
While many questioned his merits as a title challenger, Rountree Jr. simply went out to prove he belonged, and did, winning the first two rounds on all three scorecards and sitting the menacing Brazilian down before “Poatan” found his range and the tides shifted. But in the moment, the 35-year-old challenger showed he could hang with the division’s elite, a point he drove home when he dominated former champ Jamahal Hill in their oft-delayed grudge match earlier this summer in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“It has everything to do with where I’m at because it’s like, ‘I’ve got the UFC here, got a great gym, great coaches here’ and it feels like I’m on a mission,” continued Rountree Jr., getting deep on how his hometown has shaped this run. “I’m on a mission to get myself out of this place, legitimately, and leave a mark, leave here happy. Everything that I need to get to the championship is here at home, so I owe it all to being here.
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“I don’t know how I could do it living in New York or anywhere else,” he added. “It’s definitely created a foundation for me to have successful training.”
It’s a far cry from where he was prior to his homecoming, when he had packed his things and moved to Thailand, content living a Spartan lifestyle, training Muay Thai, and remaining in the Southeast Asian combat sports hotbed for the rest of his days.
“There is a part of me that still feels that way and a part of me that is still in Thailand,” he acknowledged with a laugh. “I’m telling that version of myself, ‘I’ll be there soon; don’t worry.’”
Before he can get there, Rountree Jr. has a mission to accomplish, and that is winning UFC gold. In order to potentially secure another opportunity to challenge for the title, he first has to get through Procházka, the perpetually dangerous perennial contender who also enters off a win over Hill.
RELATED: Matchup Spotlight | Jiří Procházka vs Khalil Rountree Jr.
Despite a convincing and admittedly satisfying victory over “Sweet Dreams” earlier this summer, the thoughtful and introspective Rountree Jr. admitted that he still constantly wrestles with feelings of not fully believing that he’s what his results have shown him to be: an elite contender in the thick of the title chase, one that is currently firing on all cylinders.
“It’s crazy because I hear it so much from my coaches, based off what they’re seeing in training, and training partners, but there is that thing within me that is constantly searching for that feeling, wanting to get better, and I’ll never get to it,” he said. “I’m constantly searching for this feeling of… I guess it’s like being perfect, and we’ll never find it; we’ll never find it.
“But like I said, according to my coaches and training partners, yeah, everybody is really happy with how things are going and progressing, the growth that is happening with me as a fighter and all of us as a unit.”
Whether intentional or not, it stands out that Rountree Jr. never said that he is happy with where things are at as he readies to step into the fray with Procházka this weekend at T-Mobile Arena, and that tells you everything you need to know about how the 4th-ranked light heavyweight is approaching both this fight and his overall preparations ahead of competition in general.
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So too does his response when asked his reaction when the contract for this weekend’s contest came across the table.
“Seriousness,” he said after contemplating his answer for a beat or two. “All my smiles and everything started to fade away in the beginning. I was very excited for the fight, but as the days went on in the training camp, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to get through this guy, and it’s gonna take some work, some focus, some strategy,’ and things just got real.
“It got real real.”
The 32-year-old Procházka is a handful to deal with — an unpredictable action fighter with big power who has gone 5-2 thus far inside the Octagon, with each of his two losses coming in championship bouts against Pereira.
He’s the type of opponent you need to be fully prepared to face but can never feel fully prepared because forecasting what the Czech finisher is going to do is a fool’s errand. Instead, all you can do is make sure you tick all the boxes, believe your team when they tell you that you’re ready, and then double-check that there isn’t anything else you can still fine-tune a little more.
“I’ve just done everything that I possibly can to make sure that I’m secure,” said Rountree Jr. when asked about preparing for Procházka. “From cardio to technique to speed — making sure all the boxes are checked so that there is no doubt, so that there are no surprises; Is dotted, Ts crossed.”
I mention how I love the choice of the word “secure” because it feels perfect. There is no way to be fully prepared for any fight, let alone one with someone as inventive and dynamic as the man he’ll face on Saturday night. All you can hope is that you truly have done everything you can and put yourself in the best position possible to succeed; everything else us up to the gods.
Khalil Rountree Jr. Fight Week Interview | UFC 320
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Khalil Rountree Jr. Fight Week Interview | UFC 320
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Rountree Jr. agreed and expanded on the conflicting feelings he experienced throughout the build to this weekend.
“Those are some interesting emotions to deal with: to have done everything, you’re getting reassurance from coaches and peers and everybody like, ‘Man, you look great. You’re doing everything. Everything’s good,’ and you’re just like, ‘But is it?’”
We both break out laughing.
“Are you sure I can’t just fill in that dot on the I just a little more?’” he added, still chuckling, still in constant search of that elusive feeling of perfection that is always dancing just out of reach.
But at this point, the hay is in the bard, as Jon Anik would say, and all Rountree Jr. can do is make the walk this weekend, perform to the best of his abilities and preparation, and hopefully come out on the happy side of the results.
If that should happen, he’d put himself right back in the thick of the chase at the top of the division, but he’s not interested in thinking about or worry about any of that; not now, and not ever.
“You know what? I’ve tried to think about and tried to consider that, but I don’t want to put any more pressure on myself,” he said in regard to where a win puts him in the pecking order. “I really just want to get through this fight successfully, healthy, and just be able to focus on whatever is going to happen next year.
“I’m just going to let the matchmakers do their thing and just keep doing what I’m doing; be prepared for whatever it is that they think should be next.
“I’m just trying to take everything one step at a time.”
UFC 320: Ankalaev vs Pereira 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 4, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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