Before UFC 308, Alex Pereira had 3 rapid victories since the day of the Ligh Heavyweight. He defeated Jamahal Hill in just 1 minute 30 seconds. The former Jiri Prochazka champion played better, but in the two encounters of Pereira, he lost to knock-out in the second half.
Compared to Hill, Prochazka or Pereira, Khalil Rountree is underestimated. This boxer also admitted to being the championship to be a dream opportunity to only come once in his life. Before the match against Pereira, Rountree was ranked 8th, very far from the boxers in the top 3.
For that reason, the majority of the audience thinks Khalil Rountree will not survive 1-2 rounds against Pereira. But the unexpected thing came. As Rountree affirmed earlier, the weak had a weak approach. Rountree also took advantage of the advantage of a martial artist to overcome the first attack play from Pereira.
The transcript published by UFC after the UFC 307 event shows that all three Sal D'Mato, Derek Cleary and Chris Lee assessment have shared the same evaluation of the score of the first 3 rounds. Rountree won the point in the first and second half, and Pereira won the third round. That also means that, before falling down and losing to TKO champion, Rountree is still the leader.
Rountree's resilience and will to explain why UFC chose the match between England and Pereira to receive the title of Fight of the Night. Besides the remuneration, each boxer received an additional $ 50,000 for this title. It was absolutely worthy for Rountree, especially in the context that he suffered a significant injury after the match closed.
At the end of the second half, as well as the third and fourth half, Rountree had to receive many attacks with very strong force from Pereira. That made his face swollen quite a lot. At the response to the following press conference, Rountree also had to give up halfway because he was requested by the doctors, in order to avoid lesions in the nose and face worse.