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8. Khalil Rountree
Division: Middleweight
Record: 2-0
Age: 25
Years Pro: .75
Camp: Wand Fight Team/Black House

Boxing has long possessed a well-developed amateur system that culminates in the Olympics, and professionals without amateur experience are a true rarity at the highest levels of the sport. That is not the case in mixed martial arts, where an amateur background of more than a fight or two remains fairly uncommon for blue-chip prospects who are fast-tracked into professional careers. We are just now beginning to see fighters with extensive amateur backgrounds, and Rountree might be the best of the bunch.

Rountree came up in the excellent Tuff-n-Uff amateur organization in Las Vegas. He is the protégé of famed Brazilian strikers Wanderlei Silva, at whose gym he largely trains, and his former Chute Boxe teammate, Anderson Silva, with whom he works in southern California. Striking is the basis of Rountree’s game, and he is shaping up to be a good one.

Like the former UFC middleweight champion, Rountree is a southpaw, and he prefers a wide base. He likes to leap in and out with a crackling left kick and straight left but does his best work on the counter, with vicious combinations as his opponent moves forward. He is a truly brutal puncher with legitimate one-shot knockout power in everything he throws, and few opponents have been able to eat more than a shot or two without feeling the ill effects. We know little about the rest of his game, but early returns are solid: He is difficult to take down, largely because his understanding of distance and angles makes it hard to get in on his hips, and he seems to have a decent understanding of grappling.

Given the fact that he only has two professional fights on his record, there is a great deal that we do not know about Rountree. His athleticism, speed and ridiculous power are obvious, however, and he is not even in his physical prime yet. With another three or four fights, perhaps even sooner, he could be ready for the UFC to come calling.

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