Rountree’s skills are under the microscope in this installment of The Film Room.
Despite a slow start in the UFC, Rountree remains one of the more intriguing talents in a division desperate for new stars. The 29-year-old southpaw does his best work on the counter, with his intercepting left straight serving as his money punch. Although known for his finishing ability, Rountree is a rather patient striker and elects to sit back and wait for opponents to come forward, at which point he can meet them with his left. Something to notice about his striking is how often he counters an opponent’s kicks. In MMA, most fighters drop or extend their hands when throwing kicks, which leaves them in perfect position to be hit. Against Paul Craig, Rountree fired off a counter left straight every time the Scot attempted a kick and eventually finished the fight with a counter right off of one of them. He also finished legendary kickboxer Gokhan Saki by countering a sloppy low kick with a left.
Rountree prefers to work on the counter, but he does have the skills and power to be effective on the lead and knows how to use his leading attacks to set up his counters. Rountree will often back opponents to the cage with a quick flurry, which forces them to move forward to regain center control. This is where Rountree retreats and looks for his counter left. He throws very few kicks for fear of being taken down, but incorporating some low attacks would do wonders for his pressure-countering style by limiting the opponent’s movement and ability to get off the cage.
Although Rountree is usually a patient striker, he has had moments of wild trading in the pocket to keep opponents guessing, especially earlier in his career. A lot of his pressuring game is used to set traps for the opponent to come forward, at which point he can land his counter left. However, he also has the hand speed and power to finish the fight in these exchanges. He would likely benefit from being more aggressive throughout a fight since he can often get complacent looking for the counter.
Although Rountree is still a person of interest at 205 pounds, he has some major holes in his game, especially on the ground. His atrocious takedown defense severely limits his striking. One of the reasons you rarely see him throw a kick or rush forward with strikes is because he is afraid of the takedown. Rountree does not even need average grappling skills to have success, but he does need to work on his takedown defense if he wants to compete at the highest levels. His lack of grappling does not figure to be a concern in his fight with Anders, who also likes to stand and strike. However, if Rountree does not work on his grappling, it will come back to bite him again in the future.