UFC’s Khalil Rountree makes mark as Las Vegas’ heaviest homegrown hitter

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

Khalil Rountree’s interest in athletics was virtually nonexistent as an adolescent growing up locally in the mid-2000s.

The Las Vegas High graduate was more content locking himself in his room where he learned how to play and later build musical instruments than partaking in any physical activity. He only recalls ever pursuing one sport from the time he was about 14 to 19 years old, and it didn’t exactly pan out.

“My friends in high school all played volleyball and, as a joke, they were like, ‘Try out for the B-team,’” Rountree recalled. “They just wouldn’t shut up, so I tried out and I made it, but I didn’t ever get to play because I had bad grades. That was the extent of my sports — B-team volleyball, and I didn’t even really know anything about it.”

No one could have ever anticipated the now-35-year-old would turn into one of the most globally recognizable current athletes from Las Vegas. That’s a distinction Rountree has risen to since challenging mixed martial arts superstar Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight championship in October 2024 in the main event of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City.

Plenty of fighters move here to train but few, especially in this age of the UFC’s worldwide explosion in popularity, are true natives. And almost none of them reach the heights of Rountree, who lost via fourth-round TKO to Pereira but only after winning the first two rounds in a bout widely hailed as one of the fights of the year.

Pereira stood out as the UFC’s biggest star at the time — and remains one of them since having lost his title — and Rountree was unaware of how much giving him a scare would rocket his profile in mixed martial arts.

“That fight really changed everything for me,” Rountree said. “The beginning of my career, there were a lot of ups and downs even though I had the high-profile fights, but it took until the Alex fight for people to really start paying attention to me.”

Motivated by the whole experience, Rountree has since pushed to position himself to land another title shot as soon as possible. Rountree (14-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) could put the finishing touches on his case when he fights former champion Jiří Procházka (31-5-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) on the pay-per-view portion of UFC 320 Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The event is headlined by Pereira’s immediate rematch for his belt with Magomed Ankalaev. That sets up the timeline for Prochazka vs. Rountree to be a No. 1 contender bout, which is how the local fighter says he’s approaching it.

UFC President Dana White hasn’t confirmed those stakes, but it would make sense given the extra promotional push he’s provided Rountree coming out of the Pereira loss. White was among the masses blown away by Rountree showing, “another level of tough,” that night.

“He had no fear from the first round,” White said. “Khalil Rountree went in there and started going from the minute the bell rang — no fear, no jitters, no nerves. Maybe he had some jitters or nerves but, if he did, he didn’t show it. He went right in there against one of the baddest dudes of all time and just started mixing it up with him. It was awesome.”

Rountree’s attack-minded, southpaw-stance kickboxing style had become a favorite of dedicated MMA fans for years but it didn’t cross over to a more mainstream audience until recently.

He’s used to delayed gratification, though. That describes a lot of his career.

Rountree had never attended a mixed martial arts class until 2010, a couple years after he was out of high school and shortly before his 21^st birthday.

Before that, he was more driven to make a career out of music. Rountree was a staple in the Las Vegas underground music scene for years, particularly in the heavy metal and hardcore realm.

He played in a few bands and became a tour manager for longtime local metalcore/deathcore act Molotov Solution. That also led him to touring gigs with the likes of Southern California act Impending Doom and seminal Massachusetts act The Acacia Strain.

He remembers those days fondly for the most part, even if he grew miserable at the time. Rountree ballooned up to 300 pounds with a steady truck-stop diet, crisscrossing the country and developed an addiction to smoking.

“I started to realize, ‘This isn’t really the life for me,’” Rountree said. “I wanted to do something else, but I needed another place for my aggression and I found it in MMA through The Ultimate Fighter and stuff. Even the music around it was kind of heavy, and I was like, ‘If there’s any place I can change and get into something that’s healthier for me, it’s MMA.’”

Rountree tagged along with his older brother, fellow fighter Donavon Frelow, to a training session at the Wand Fight Team gym to give it a try and never looked back. He lost 100 pounds and quit cigarettes within a year.

“MMA saved me in so many ways,” Rountree said. “I remember after that first time I trained, I was so exhausted that I was at peace. I was so wiped out that I went home and just laid there and was like, ‘Oh I feel good. This is cool.’ It gave me a safe place just like (hardcore) shows did to let that energy out.”

Rountree earned a spot on the reality show that served as his first introduction into MMA, The Ultimate Fighter, in 2016 and ended up winning the season to land a UFC contract.

He used the extra time and money to travel the world and hone different combat disciplines and began living part-time and training primarily in Thailand.

He wouldn’t undo his path — he met his wife, model Mia Kang, while training in Southeast Asia — but began to feel a pull to come back to Las Vegas more permanently a few years ago.

Rountree said hunkering back down in Las Vegas, with the guidance of renowned Syndicate MMA owner and coach John Wood, helped bring his fighting career to the next level.

“The city has helped me a lot in different ways because I don’t gamble, I don’t drink,” Rountree said. “Outside of that, the only thing there is to do here is train, so I’m thankful I can live here and not have many distractions and have high-level training. Guys fly in from all over the world, and you never know who’s going to be in the gym.”

“The UFC has created such a great program and facility for us where we can have all our needs taken care of. It wouldn’t be smart if I didn’t take advantage of being here where work is and where all this stuff is accessible in a place I call home.”

But a lot has also changed since he’s come back to Las Vegas. Even years after putting the touring life behind and winning The Ultimate Fighter, Rountree would frequent hardcore shows.

Videos of him joining bands like local heroes/longtime friends SpiritWorld and Los Angeles institution Terror on stage or tearing up mosh pits would circulate online. He’s had to tone down that behavior as his visibility has climbed.

“I can’t go to shows anymore because I can’t be in the pit anymore,” Rountree said. “If I accidentally hurt someone, it’s going to be bad. If there’s a band I really want to go see, I’ll go watch from the back or the side of the stage but that’s about it.”

Rountree rarely feels like he can go anywhere freely anymore. He was not prepared for how much the performance against Pereira would change his life.

He doesn’t just draw a crowd in the cage anymore; he attracts one everywhere he goes — even in his hometown.

“I don’t have much privacy,” Rountree said. “I think twice when I go to Target, go to the gas station. Anywhere I go, it seems like there’s at least one person approaching me, at minimum. My personal space can get invaded a little bit, but I can live with it. Overall, I’d say I enjoy it. It’s nice. I’m grateful for the support because I’ve worked so hard to get to this point.”