Khalil Rountree Seeks Five-Round Main Event for Next UFC Appearance

In the midst of a four-bout winning streak, Khalil Rountree appears to be in peak form — but he still has greater goals to achieve.

“The Ultimate Fighter 23” alum kept his momentum going at UFC on ESPN 51 with a first-round technical knockout victory over converted heavyweight Chris Daukaus in a featured 205-pound clash at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. Rountree has finished three of his four opponents during his current hot stretch, and now he believes he’s ready to test himself in a main event.

“The reason why I want to fight five rounds is because I want to be ready for a championship fight as soon as possible,” Rountree said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I’m ready for a title, but I have to fight five rounds before I can fully say that.

“I’ve never fought a main event before. Where my mind is and where I’m going, I’m here to fight the best. I’m here to go after it and be a contender. So whoever makes sense in a five-round main event to help either of us get toward that belt, then that’s who it is. I’m not picking and choosing opponents.”

Rountree had something of an uneven beginning to his UFC tenure. He credits coaches Lorenzo Pavlica and John Wood for helping him find consistency later in his career.

“At the beginning of my career, when I first got signed to the UFC, I dealt with a little bit of struggles. Really didn’t know if I belonged in the UFC, all this stuff, I’m just kind of riding the wave,” he said. “My career at the beginning was a bit of a fluke, if I’m being honest. Went through ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ lost, won, didn’t win finals, got granted a contract. It was a lot of ups and downs.

“Both of those guys together have put a lot of belief in me and actually have been with me this whole journey, through my ups and downs, through a lot of different phases of my life. All of that just helps me have so much more confidence and belief in myself, when I have someone like that working with me personally and holding me to a high standard.”

Rountree has come a long way from contemplating retirement a few years back, but he hasn’t let recent success go to his head. Instead, he’s still building confidence in who he is as an athlete.

“I don’t wake up in the morning and think ‘oh I’m Khalil Rountree, UFC fighter.’ I’m still trying to overcome things from the past internally and heal past scars and things like that,” he said. ‘But I’m doing it all through training, which is then producing good results in the cage, which is then, I’m like, okay I can finally feel authentic when I step into who I am, and what I am and what I do.”