Khalil Rountree squashed his beef with Sean Strickland.
Rountree will attempt to shock the world at UFC 307 on Saturday night as he challenges reigning light heavyweight world champion Alex Pereira in a heavy-hitting headliner. ‘The War Horse’ goes into his first title opportunity having won five straight, including highlight-reel knockouts against Modestas Bukauskas, Chris Daukaus, and Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith.
During Wednesday’s UFC media day in Salt Lake City, Rountree addressed his ongoing rivalry with former middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland.
Two years ago, ‘Tarzan’ shredded Rountree after ‘The War Horse’ had an emotional moment following his win against Karl Roberson inside The APEX. Strickland dubbed Rountree a “special little snowflake” and a “PC BETA male.”
Strickland recently doubled down on those comments during an interview with The Schmo, labeling Rountree a “BETA male b*tch” during another unprovoked tirade.
Sean Strickland completely GOES OFF on Khalil Roundtree
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(@Nolimitsu_) September 28, 2024
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However, Rountree claims that Strickland actually apologized to him during a chance encounter in Las Vegas.
“Honestly, the last interaction that I had with Sean Strickland was at the UFC [Performance Institute], it was literally the day after Dan Ige stepped in that fight [on] like three hours, four hours’ notice or something like that,” Rountree said during UFC 307 media day. “I was going into the P.I., I saw Dan Ige, walked right up to him, gave him his props for having balls of steel just going in there on such short notice.
“Out of the blue, Sean Strickland comes up to me. He approached me and just said ‘Khalil, I apologize, I’m a dumb ass, I actually kind of like you. I think you’re a liberal but overall, I like you or respect you.’ Something along those lines” (h/t MMA Fighting).
Khalil Rountree is Ready to put his past with Sean Strickland behind him
Knowing Strickland was sorry for the unkind words he’s said in the past, Rountree is not terribly worried about what the outspoken star might say in the future. If anything, ‘The War Horse’ is just happy to put the whole ordeal behind him.
“What I took it as was almost like squashing whatever beef,” Rountree said. “Just saying I am who I am, I’m going to say what I’m going to say, but I’m coming here to personally shake your hand and tell you I think you’re a liberal, but to a certain level, I respect you. It was like that. I took it as you’re coming here to make the peace and I kind of left it at that.
“Now anything moving forward, anything that’s said or whatever, I got that stored in my memory bank. So I know that there’s really no issue. It’s really just talk and I won’t concern myself with it.”