Khalil Rountree Jr. recently told the combat sports media that he will not be shooting for any takedowns when he challenges Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title atop the UFC 307 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. night (Oct. 5) in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Pereira remains unconvinced.
“Honestly bro, everybody that said that before ended up shooting a takedown on this guy so it’s hard to believe,” Coach Plinio Cruz told Kevin Iole. “Alex said that the only way that he’ll believe [is] if Khalil go out in public and say, ‘I promise, I promise that I’m not going to shoot a takedown on this guy and if I do, I’m going to donate a percentage of my purse for charity.’ Then Alex will believe him and say let’s bang.”
Team Rountree is convinced Pereira is the one who will “break first” and start wrestling.
“I would rather just publicly promise to donate a portion of my winnings to charity, regardless of a takedown or not,” Rountree Jr. said during the UFC 307 media day. “I’d rather do that. I’m not a betting guy. I don’t bet. I don’t really support it. But if it’s a challenge in a way to show that I will donate top a positive cause or to a charity, I don’t need to say I won’t shoot for a takedown. I’ll just do that, flat off. Am I going to shoot for a takedown? I don’t plan to.”
We’ll find out in just over 48 hours.
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