Khalil Rountree Jr. feels disrespected prior to UFC 307, Jose Aldo's age may be wrong, Sean Strickland won't return to Sydney: MMA News Roundup
Khalil Rountree Jr. feels disrespected ahead of UFC 307, Gilbert Burns claims Jose Also may be older than he says and Sean Strickland expressed title fight frustration.
Find out more details in today's (Oct. 5) Sportskeeda daily news roundup.
#3 Khalil Rountree Jr. feels disrespected ahead of UFC 307 title clash against Alex Pereira
Khalil Rountree Jr. has admitted he feels disrespected by fans and bookmakers, after Alex Pereira was made the overwhelming favorite ahead of their light heavyweight title fight this weekend.
'The War Horse', who will be challenging for UFC gold for the first time in his career, spoke with Daniel Cormier prior to stepping into the octagon at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to the challenger, he feels as though being given a slim chance of victory is "disrespectful" to his talent. Rountree Jr. explained:
"It's almost like disrespectful. Like what do you not see in me? You know what I mean? Like what am I not doing? Is it because you see me in interviews and I'm myself and I'm a nice guy and this guy who is stone cold is going to stone me? No! I don't know. But it'll be nice to go in there and do this and get some respect."
Check out Khalil Rountree Jr.'s comments here:
#2 Gilbert Burns jokingly insinuates Jose Aldo is older than his listed age
Gilbert Burns recently made a joke that suggested Jose Aldo may actually be older than his listed age.
According to Aldo's profile on the UFC's official website, 'The King of Rio' was born in 1986, the same year as his fellow Brazilian, 'Durinho'. This means that both fighters are currently 38 years old.
However, Burns has sent the rumor mill swirling when he discussed first meeting Aldo on the latest episode of his Show Me The Money podcast. According to the former welterweight title challenger, Jose Aldo might actually be two years older, as when they first met they were of different ages. He explained:
"If you saw, [Aldo] just turned 38 not long ago. I'm 38 but I remember...I was 18 years old in Brazil...I was blue belt and Jose Aldo was kind of like, 19-20 when he moved to Rio and he was purple belt. Now I'm older than him. I remember when I was a blue belt, I was one or two years years younger than him, now I'm older than him. I don't what happened, but I'm older."
Check out Gilbert Burns' comments here:
#1 Sean Strickland expresses frustration with his potential middleweight title fight location
Sean Strickland isn't keen on potentially having to return to Sydney, Australia in order to recapture the middleweight title.
As it stands, the UFC is reportedly working to book Dricus du Plessis in a rematch against Strickland. The South African's coach recently suggested that it was being targeted for an event in the Australian city.
'Tarzan', however, doesn't want to return to the country. This is due to his comments during the build-up to his title fight against Israel Asdesanya at UFC 293 landing him in hot water with the Australian government.
Taking to X to express his frustration, Strickland wrote:
"UFC event planning 'I have a great idea, let's send Sean to go fight for a championship in foreign country where the government absolutely hates him'. UFC are you fu**ing with me or are you trying to tell me you want me to spread freedom?! I wonder at times..."
Check out Sean Strickland's tweet here: