Khalil
Rountree recently shared an honest reaction to Khamzat
Chimaev’s light heavyweight plans.
Rountree is currently helping Chimaev (15-0) prepare for his
upcoming middleweight title defense against Sean
Strickland (30-7) at
UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It
is widely speculated that Chimaev will move up to light heavyweight
in the near future.
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Rountree admits that he wasn’t very happy to hear about Chimaev’s
plans to move up. The former light heavyweight title challenger
isn’t very excited about a potential matchup against Chimaev.
Having trained with him, Rountree reveals that the middleweight
champion gives tough competition to partners of all sizes.
According to Rountree, light heavyweights are “screwed” if Chimaev
moves up.
“When I first heard the news, I was a bit bummed out, really,”
Rountree said in a recent media scrum captured by Cageside Press. “Just to know that a guy like Khamzat
would come to the division, and that could be a potential matchup
if that happened. Doesn’t make me happy, thinking about that.
Training with this guy, he’s the best in the world, it’s difficult.
In all areas, in stand up, in grappling, no one gets an easy round
with Khamzat, doesn’t matter what weight class, what size. That was
my initial thought, ‘If he made the move up, we’re all kind of
screwed.’”
Considered one of the best active fighters in the world, Chimaev
has run through every UFC opponent barring Kamaru
Usman and Gilbert
Burns. The undefeated Chechen-born dominantly dethroned
Dricus
Du Plessis to win the middleweight title at
UFC 319 last year.
Meanwhile, Rountree is coming off a last-round stoppage loss
against Jiri
Prochazka in a fight that he was winning until he wasn’t.