Fight OddsPreview: UFC Baku ‘Hill vs. Rountree’
Hill vs. Rountree
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship will make its return to ABC this
Saturday, as the company debuts in Azerbaijan with some solid
matchmaking and local flavor. The
UFC Baku main event sees Jamahal
Hill and Khalil
Rountree square off in an interesting light heavyweight battle
many expect to end in a knockout. In terms of Azerbaijani
representation, three lightweights take up the flag: Rafael
Fiziev meets Ignacio
Bahamondes in an entertaining co-headliner, Tofiq
Musayev makes his Octagon debut opposite Myktybek
Orolbai and Nazim
Sadykhov looks to stay undefeated in the promotion against
Nikolas
Motta. An oft-rebooked heavyweight clash pitting Curtis
Blaydes against Rizvan
Kuniev provides some intrigue, and a featherweight affair
slotting Muhammadjon
Naimov opposite Bogdan Grad
offers plenty of entertainment potential.
Now to the UFC on ABC 8 “Hill vs. Rountree” preview:
Light Heavyweights
Despite coming off a loss, Rountree’s career momentum is probably the highest it’s ever been. “The War Horse” was on the shortlist of top prospects in the world when he came to the UFC in 2016, as he was an absolutely terrifying striker that figured to run roughshod over most of his competition. But while Rountree lived up to those expectations at times with some brutal knockouts, his first few years in the UFC were mostly an exercise in frustration. Rountree’s defensive wrestling and grappling were immediately obvious issues, but there were also points where he got knocked out himself, resulting in him changing his approaches from fight to fight with varying results. Things got rough enough at one point that Rountree even teased retirement in 2020, but after one more disappointing loss—this time to Marcin Prachnio in 2021—Rountree suddenly found the most consistently effective form of his career. It might have just taken experience for Rountree to settle into some comfort, as he’s now a highly effective counterpuncher also willing to throw out some volume; his recent five-fight winning streak saw him score four brutal knockouts in a fashion few fighters are capable of but also narrowly outpoint Dustin Jacoby in a decision victory.
After capping off 2023 with a win over Anthony Smith, the hope was that Rountree could vault into contender status in 2024. His next fight actually wound up being a title fight against Alex Pereira, a surprise for various reasons; Rountree wasn’t considered a true contender just yet but also had to pull out of a fight with Hill after self-reporting a drug test violation due to a tainted supplement. Despite the controversy about Rountree’s title shot given the circumstances and other possible contenders, Rountree himself made good on the opportunity in just about every way short of winning the title; it was expected to be a walkover Pereira win, but Rountree came out sharp and won the first two rounds of the fight before Pereira finally took things over and put away a game Rountree in the fourth. That performance seemingly validated Rountree as a top-tier light heavyweight, though it’d be nice if he actually beat an elite 205-pounder to prove it. From Rountree’s standpoint, it’s where Hill steps in for this main event in Azerbaijan.
It’s a bit amusing that both Hill and Rountree wound up in the light heavyweight title picture earlier than anyone expected, and while Rountree seemingly validated his contender status with a loss, Hill still has his fair share of doubters despite actually winning the light heavyweight title at one point. Hill came to the UFC via the Contender Series in 2019, and “Sweet Dreams” looked like a viable long-term prospect, a slow-starting striker that proved to be quite sharp once he built some momentum. A 2021 submission loss to Paul Craig figured to be a temporary setback, and indeed Hill rebounded with some impressive results that included some quick knockouts; he didn’t look quite ready for the light heavyweight elite, but he was doing a much better job of taking apart the flawed fighters and older veterans that made up a lot of the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings. Hill looked ready for another step up after beating Thiago Santos in 2022, but nobody was expecting him to somehow fall into becoming champion thanks to a series of unlikely events.
Jiri Prochazka vacated the belt due to injury; and a subsequent title fight between Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz ended in a draw. That fight was so underwhelming that the UFC decided to hastily throw together a fight between Hill and Glover Teixeira in lieu of putting on a rematch. Hill dominated Teixeira to win the vacant title, but the narrative mostly centered around that fight being the one where Teixeira finally looked his age. Hill’s title reign never got off the ground, as he also had to vacate the belt due to injury a few months later. Hill’s return didn’t go particularly well, as Pereira knocked him out without much issue at UFC 300, though his next effort was at least a more entertaining and back-and-forth loss, as Hill and Prochazka put on a war until Prochazka scored the third-round knockout. The good news is that Rountree is unlikely to apply the level of pressure that truly gets Hill over his skis; and shot-for-shot, Hill is probably the more durable fighter. But Rountree is more effective at this point in terms of picking his spots to return fire and land a counter, and Hill is much more of a technical mess that figures to leave himself in position to be knocked out. If this devolves into a war, Hill seems to have the better gas tank and is likely more comfortable in the chaos, but Rountree might be able to pick up some reads and end this before any of that matters. The pick is Rountree via second-round knockout.
Continue Reading »Hill vs. Rountree
Now to the UFC on ABC 8 “Hill vs. Rountree” preview:
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Light Heavyweights
Jamahal
Hill (12-3, 6-3 UFC) vs. Khalil
Rountree (13-6. 9-6 UFC)
UFC Baku Betting Odds: Rountree (-135), Hill (+114)
Despite coming off a loss, Rountree’s career momentum is probably the highest it’s ever been. “The War Horse” was on the shortlist of top prospects in the world when he came to the UFC in 2016, as he was an absolutely terrifying striker that figured to run roughshod over most of his competition. But while Rountree lived up to those expectations at times with some brutal knockouts, his first few years in the UFC were mostly an exercise in frustration. Rountree’s defensive wrestling and grappling were immediately obvious issues, but there were also points where he got knocked out himself, resulting in him changing his approaches from fight to fight with varying results. Things got rough enough at one point that Rountree even teased retirement in 2020, but after one more disappointing loss—this time to Marcin Prachnio in 2021—Rountree suddenly found the most consistently effective form of his career. It might have just taken experience for Rountree to settle into some comfort, as he’s now a highly effective counterpuncher also willing to throw out some volume; his recent five-fight winning streak saw him score four brutal knockouts in a fashion few fighters are capable of but also narrowly outpoint Dustin Jacoby in a decision victory.
After capping off 2023 with a win over Anthony Smith, the hope was that Rountree could vault into contender status in 2024. His next fight actually wound up being a title fight against Alex Pereira, a surprise for various reasons; Rountree wasn’t considered a true contender just yet but also had to pull out of a fight with Hill after self-reporting a drug test violation due to a tainted supplement. Despite the controversy about Rountree’s title shot given the circumstances and other possible contenders, Rountree himself made good on the opportunity in just about every way short of winning the title; it was expected to be a walkover Pereira win, but Rountree came out sharp and won the first two rounds of the fight before Pereira finally took things over and put away a game Rountree in the fourth. That performance seemingly validated Rountree as a top-tier light heavyweight, though it’d be nice if he actually beat an elite 205-pounder to prove it. From Rountree’s standpoint, it’s where Hill steps in for this main event in Azerbaijan.
It’s a bit amusing that both Hill and Rountree wound up in the light heavyweight title picture earlier than anyone expected, and while Rountree seemingly validated his contender status with a loss, Hill still has his fair share of doubters despite actually winning the light heavyweight title at one point. Hill came to the UFC via the Contender Series in 2019, and “Sweet Dreams” looked like a viable long-term prospect, a slow-starting striker that proved to be quite sharp once he built some momentum. A 2021 submission loss to Paul Craig figured to be a temporary setback, and indeed Hill rebounded with some impressive results that included some quick knockouts; he didn’t look quite ready for the light heavyweight elite, but he was doing a much better job of taking apart the flawed fighters and older veterans that made up a lot of the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings. Hill looked ready for another step up after beating Thiago Santos in 2022, but nobody was expecting him to somehow fall into becoming champion thanks to a series of unlikely events.
Jiri Prochazka vacated the belt due to injury; and a subsequent title fight between Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz ended in a draw. That fight was so underwhelming that the UFC decided to hastily throw together a fight between Hill and Glover Teixeira in lieu of putting on a rematch. Hill dominated Teixeira to win the vacant title, but the narrative mostly centered around that fight being the one where Teixeira finally looked his age. Hill’s title reign never got off the ground, as he also had to vacate the belt due to injury a few months later. Hill’s return didn’t go particularly well, as Pereira knocked him out without much issue at UFC 300, though his next effort was at least a more entertaining and back-and-forth loss, as Hill and Prochazka put on a war until Prochazka scored the third-round knockout. The good news is that Rountree is unlikely to apply the level of pressure that truly gets Hill over his skis; and shot-for-shot, Hill is probably the more durable fighter. But Rountree is more effective at this point in terms of picking his spots to return fire and land a counter, and Hill is much more of a technical mess that figures to leave himself in position to be knocked out. If this devolves into a war, Hill seems to have the better gas tank and is likely more comfortable in the chaos, but Rountree might be able to pick up some reads and end this before any of that matters. The pick is Rountree via second-round knockout.
Continue Reading »
Hill vs. Rountree
Bahamondes vs. Fiziev
Blaydes vs. Kuniev
Orolbai vs. Musayev
Sadykhov vs. Motta
Naimov vs. Grad
The Prelims
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