Gokhan Saki will look to make his long-awaited return to action this Saturday night (July 7, 2018) when he faces Khalil Rountree in a Light Heavyweight bout, which takes place on the main card of the UFC 226 pay-per-view (PPV) event.
Though Khalil has won his last two fights via first round knockout, Saki isn’t sold on Rountree’s level of expertise when it comes to the art of standup fighting.
“Everybody says he’s a standup fighter, and for me, I think he’s trying to stand up. People don’t understand standup fighting, so they’re really excited about the way he’s fighting. But I think everything is OK, you know?” declared Gokhan during a recent chat with Bloody Elbow.
Saki, meanwhile, knows a thing or three about the art of striking on the feet, as the former world kickboxing champion made a name for himself taking on and defeating the best in the world before making a full time transition into MMA.
And after a few exchanges, Saki says Rountree will quickly turn into a wrestler.
“I think when they see my standup compared with his, then they’re gonna see what’s real standup fighting. So for me, maybe he don’t wanna stand up with me, he’s gonna try to wrestle with me or he’s gonna try to do Jiu-Jitsu with me,” he added. “Well, I don’t think he has the quality for that, you know? In a short time, to learn this all, to bring this all together.
“What does Khalil bring to the table? Nothing. There is no seat for him at this table. He has too much weakness. I know what those weaknesses are. For him to work on that? It’s too late. I’m already here.”
Confident.
“Turkish Tyson” made good on his UFC debut back in September of 2017 by knocking out Henrique da Silva in the very first round at UFC Fight Night 117 (see it again here). Rountree, meanwhile, has won two in a row, as his previous loss to Micha? Oleksiejczuk was overturned to a no contest afer Michal tested positive for clomiphene.