Preview: UFC Fight Night 203 ‘Santos vs. Ankalaev’

Light Heavyweights

NR | Khalil Rountree (9-5, 1 N/C) vs. NR | Karl Roberson (9-4)
Odds: Roberson (-130), Rountree (+110)

What to make of Khalil Rountree? "The War Horse" entered 2016 as one of the top prospects in the sport, owing to his powerful kickboxing, but spent the balance of the year dulling most of his hype; during both his stint on The Ultimate Fighter and his first two UFC fights afterwards, Rountree proved easy to take down and control - if not outright finish - for opponent after opponent. Rountree did eventually right the ship, scoring some electrifying knockouts of Daniel Jolly and Paul Craig, but he's been inconsistent and unreliable in the years since. Sometimes, Rountree is given a slow pace to work with and looks like one of the most terrifying forces in the light heavyweight division - while at other times, he puts on a flat performance that never gets out of first gear, if it doesn't wind up with him getting finished first. September saw Rountree put in one of his better performances against Modestas Bukauskas before injuring Bukauskas with a kick to the knee, so he hopefully continues to be on the upswing here against Karl Roberson. Roberson's also been a frustrating prospect; "Baby K" comes from a kickboxing background and can put together a strong and consistent performance in that phase of the game, but he's often been undone by his willingness to mix things in and wrestle. Roberson is solid on the mat, which doesn't always make it the worst proposition, but his last two fights against Marvin Vettori and Brendan Allen were clear instances where Roberson would be best not trying to engage in a grappling match, only to do so and get submitted for his troubles. That won't be the case here, as Roberson should be able to take this to the mat as a change-up, but if everything's clicking for Rountree, he may just wind up scoring a knockout before it occurs to Roberson to force the issue. This is a weird fight between two fighters that are hard to trust, but it should at least be exciting; the pick is Rountree via second-round knockout.

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