Alex Pereira Will Fight Khalil Rountree At UFC 307

Alex Pereira Will Fight Khalil Rountree At UFC 307

Alex Pereira is set to defend the lightweight title against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307. The bout will go down at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 5. UFC CEO Dana White announced the news on social media.

Pereira has quickly become one of the hottest names in the MMA community. The light heavyweight champion has defended the title twice. Those victories came against former champions Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill.

This fight against Rountree will be Pereira’s fifth bout since moving up to light heavyweight just over two years ago. The 37-year-old has consistently helped the UFC fill out its pay-per-view schedule. That is the case for this booking as the fight is scheduled to go down in seven weeks.

The decision to give Rountree the title opportunity against Pereira is a puzzling one. In the lead-up to UFC 303, Rountree was forced to pull out of his fight against Jamahal Hill after accidentally taking a banned substance. It was ruled that Rountree was not at fault, but he has not fought since the incident.

More importantly, Rountree, the No. 8 ranked light heavyweight, has not run the gauntlet often required to fight for a UFC title. At the moment, he is riding a five-fight win streak with his best win coming against Anthony Smith. It is a run has many speculating that he could be a future title contender, but it’s a shock to see him jump all the way to a title fight.

If you place rankings and resumes to the side, the UFC 305 main event should be an entertaining one. Rountree’s violent Muay Thai style pitted against Pereira’s kickboxing background is a fascinating matchup.

The remainder of the UFC 305 main card is as follows:

• (C) Alex Pereira vs. No. 8 Khalil Rountree- Light Heavyweight Title Fight
• (C) Raquel Pennington vs. No. 1 Juliana Peña- Women’s Bantamweight Title Fight
• No. 2 Ketlen Vieira vs. No. 3 Kayla Harrison- Women’s Bantamweight Bout
• No. 6 Movar Evloev vs. No. 8 Aljamain Sterling- Featherweight Bout
• No. 9 Jose Aldo vs. No. 12 Mario Bautista- Bantamweight Bout

The biggest storylines for the remainder of the UFC 305 revolve around the UFC women’s bantamweight title. The belt will be put on the line in the co-main event while the preceding bout determines the next title challenger. The card will also open with bantamweight and featherweight bouts that will change the landscape of each division.

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