Khalil Rountree Jr. casts vote on Alex Pereira vs. Islam Makhachev UFC P4P debate, says 'Poatan' is no "one-trick pony"
Khalil Rountree Jr. recently shared his thoughts on how Alex Pereira compared to Islam Makhachev in the UFC P4P debate. Rountree Jr. also lauded Pereira's skills in the cage and admitted that 'Poatan' had more skills than he's given credit for.
Pereira and Rountree Jr. faced each other in a light heavyweight title fight at UFC 307 last weekend in Salt Lake City. After vowing not to grapple the kickboxing icon, Rountree Jr. put on a striking masterclass in the opening rounds of the fight. However, the Brazilian's skills proved too much for Rountree Jr. to handle.
'The War Horse' was pushed to his limits in the championship rounds and was ultimately beaten via a fourth-round knockout. In the aftermath, many lauded Pereira's striking prowess and physical power, with some opining that he should be crowned the UFC P4P king over Makhachev.
It appears Rountree Jr. concurs with that sentiment. In an interview on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, he was asked who he thought was the current No.1 P4P fighter. He replied:
"I personally would also have to say Alex. The only other person I would say, and we'll find out later on in the year, would be Jon Jones... Right now, just based off of what I have seen, based off of performances, level of opponents, things like that, right now, I'd say it would be Alex."
Rountree Jr. also lauded Pereira for not being a "one-trick pony" and discussed 'Poatan' potentially fighting Magomed Ankalaev down the line. He said:
"I don't think that he's a one-trick pony. I think he's really good at what he does... I really think that he'd be able to handle, you know, pressure from a wrestler like Ankalaev and still get the job done. Honestly."
Catch Khalil Rountree Jr.'s comments below (17:45):
Conor McGregor explains why Alex Pereira is a bad matchup for Jon Jones
Conor McGregor recently shared his thoughts on how Alex Pereira would hold up against Jon Jones. The Irishman believes 'Poatan' would pose problems for Jones and recently explained why he thought so.
Speaking to The Schmo during an interview, the former two-division UFC champion backed Pereira to potentially beat Jones and said:
"I think [Pereira] poses a lot of problems for Jon... That's a dangerous style for Jon, but it's a decent one for him because he's not so big. Jon is new to the heavyweight division. Jon, he had a nice one against Ciryl Gane, but he's still untested at heavyweight and I'm sure in the back of his mind, he has that thought that some of these guys are really big."
Catch Conor McGregor's comments below (3:40):