Khalil Rountree Jr was knocked out in brutal fashion for the first time in his career by Johnny Walker.
The pair clashed at a November 2018 UFC Fight Night event in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and it didn’t end well for the current light heavyweight challenger.
Rountree is one of the 205lb division’s most exciting fightersGetty Images
Now, Rountree faces Alex Pereira at UFC 307 this weekend, in what will be the biggest fight of his MMA career, as he seeks to claim his inaugural championship status.
But back in Argentina, things weren’t looking promising for the then 26-year-old American when he met Walker in the octagon.
It was Rountree’s seventh fight in Dana White’s promotion after coming through season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, where he lost in the finale to Andrew Sanchez.
Both Walker and Rountree came out looking energetic, but it was the latter who connected earliest with successive leg kicks that had the former mocking him as if he felt no pain.
Then, 90 seconds into the first round, Walker landed a head kick which stumbled Rountree and followed up with several blows to the head that nearly sent his opponent to the canvas.
Walker proceeded to take full control of Rountree in the clinch, with both hands locked around the back of his head.
His first attempt at a sharp elbow connected, but the second viciously knocked Rountree out cold, with the ground and pound the icing on the cake for Walker in the aftermath.
There was so much force in Walker’s bang to the temple that it sounded like a slap to the face in real time – not one for the faint hearted.
Rountree spoke about the fight on an episode of MightyCast, with Demetrious Johnson, saying the bout changed everything for him.
“I lost a really big fight to Johnny Walker that I knew I could win,” he said, during his conversation with the UFC legend.
Walker’s elbow was so quickKoray Akyol
Rountree never saw it comingKoray Akyol
And it knocked him out coldKoray Akyol
“But I was just not in the place emotionally, mentally at all. I didn’t even want to be there. You know, [in] fight week I didn’t even want to be there, the night we went out to fight, I just didn’t want to be there.”
Rountree also discussed the fact he’d never been taught how to defend an elbow or deliver one in his MMA career, which led him to Bangkok in Thailand.
“I go in there, suffer the first knockout of my career and that was a big moment of reflection for me,” he added.
“I was like, OK, aside from the emotional stuff, what technical errors did I make? So, I start looking over film and I see, OK, he clinched me and he knocked me out with an elbow.
“I’d never learned elbow defence, I’d never even learned how to throw proper elbows but I’ve always loved Muay Thai and knew that it was something.
“So, I made a decision, I’m going to Thailand, I got nothing else going on, I’m going to learn from this and I’m going go to Thailand and learn Muay Thai the right way.”
Rountree has experienced a lot of adversity growing up, outside of his career in MMA.
Pereira, Rountree’s opponent on Saturday, has become one of the UFC biggest stars by winning belts at middleweight and light heavyweight
The 32-year-old revealed in a UFC 307 Countdown episode that the loss of his father as a toddler ‘led him down a path of self-destruction’.
He also said how he once weighed over 300 pounds (136kg) and was smoking two packets of cigarettes a day, as well as regularly drinking alcohol.
For his fight on Saturday, Rountree will weigh just over 200 lbs (91kg).
He had originally intended on visiting Thailand for just one month, but ended up staying for over three years.
Rountree is currently on a five-fight win streak in the UFC and is looking to shock the world as he faces Pereira this weekend.
Julianna Pena has the chance to reclaim her women’s bantamweight title against Raquel Pennington on a card that also features Jose Aldo, Kevin Holland and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson.
