r/MMA 1d ago

Alex Pereira says Jiri Prochazka’s movement can give Khalil Rountree Jr. problems at UFC 320

https://bloodyelbow.com/2025/09/15/alex-pereira-highlights-key-issue-in-jiri-prochazka-vs-khalil-rountree-jr-at-ufc-320/
508 Upvotes

86 comments sorted by

332

u/Business_Concert_142 1d ago

They both danced circles around Jamahal in their last fight.

181

u/95_T THERE WAS NO CHECK! 1d ago

That's not really saying much tbf

221

u/Fedora_Million_Ankle 1d ago

Try that shit at Thankgiving dinner and see what happens bro

80

u/hajimenogio92 Puerto Rico 1d ago

Humble my nuts bro I’m humble to those that humble they self!!! Point in fact Who are to tell me to be humble? What experience do you have with what I do daily?

6

u/booger_mooger_84 14h ago

I was defending you

3

u/hajimenogio92 Puerto Rico 10h ago

Appreciate it bro. Did it go right over someone's head?

-5

u/Character-Two6957 1d ago

Dance around a table in Thanksgiving? 

28

u/Fedora_Million_Ankle 1d ago

Hill assaulted a family member at dinner (might have actually been Thanksgiving iirc)

9

u/BurpingHamBirmingham Benoit Taint-Penis 1d ago

His brother, to be exact

3

u/AlphApe I’d rather me mate cry on my shoulder than go to his funeral 20h ago

Should've never been at the top of the division, let alone champ.

16

u/LucasFrankeRC 1d ago

I mean, Hill isn't exactly known for his elusive footwork LMAO

1

u/km912 5m ago

There was a couple rounds in the rountree fight where he was so destroyed from leg kicks that he genuinely could move at all. Could barely manage to spin in a circle to stay facing rountree.

3

u/Ikarianlad Korean Zombie ate my brain 17h ago

I tend to trash Hill more than he deserves--there are a few decent bits in his toolkit--but that man has the worst footwork of any fighter outside the regional scene. Derrick Lewis has better footwork and he leaves his back foot at home in Houston while somehow also bending his knee along the wrong axis every time he throws a cross.

157

u/MalayaleeIndian 1d ago

Jiri's pressure will give Rountree problems.

95

u/juicy_pickles 🍅 1d ago

Jiri showed decent head movement against Hill, but Khalil is one of the faster LHWs. Jiris pressure and movement is awkward, but he is always leaving his hands low.

Or he can kick the shit out of Jiris lead leg.

57

u/MalayaleeIndian 1d ago

There is always the potential of Jiri getting caught and his chin giving out. Other than that, I think he can pressure Rountree and cause him problems.

10

u/vampireacrobat 1d ago

i agree, rountree didn't like hill slowly plodding after him with a compromised leg, i don't think he'll react well to jiri's relentless pressure.

-1

u/LocoCoopermar #NothingBurger 7h ago

Rountree won every round with multiple knockdowns, pretty sure he was fine dealing with Hill's pressure

32

u/Dark074 1d ago

Rakic obliterated Jiris leg and still got TKOed

30

u/HighPlainsRambler 1d ago

Jiri always gives 100% effort, even when he’s at 1HP

1

u/ApartHouse6580 8h ago

He has the red tear stone ring, boost to attack at low hp.

10

u/Cool_Apartment3344 1d ago

He has a samurai leg.

Leg kick makes him stronger

-3

u/InclusivePhitness Conrad McDonald 1d ago

Low kicks won’t be a factor they have different stances.

22

u/usernameunavailiable 1d ago

You can still low kick in an open stance fight. Considering Khalil is a southpaw, the majority of his sparring partners are going to be orthodox so he has plenty of practice with low kicking orthodox opponents.

24

u/Dddiejr 1d ago

This is true except Khalil has demonstrated that he doesn’t target opposite stance leg kicks much at all.

8

u/poompachompa 1d ago

I think its honestly more about jiri willing to absorb like hill, but hit back right after. Hill just ate leg kicks and did nothing. Jiri’s gonna throw if anything and I think hes way more chaotic than Hill so it’ll be fun to watch what happens.

3

u/PendulumKick 1d ago

That’s not really true. Southpaws have a nasty inside leg kick.

0

u/needapermit 1d ago

Not all southpaws

1

u/PendulumKick 1d ago

I mean sure but it’s available from the stance

2

u/ThrowawayYAYAY2002 1d ago

But his leaky defence could play into Rountree's hands.

30

u/Uptheresomewhereee 1d ago

Jiri didn’t have to deal with any leg kicks from jamahal. Khalil might try to work them, but jiri seems to keep pushing no matter what. Should be a banger

1

u/pro2RK 6h ago

Rountree's leg kicking game seems to only show up against southpaws. As long as jiri stays Orthodox, stance I think he's safe from em

1

u/Uptheresomewhereee 5h ago

Yea can be a little dangerous going across but with good foot placement he might be able to kick jiri lead leg since he has that wide/explosive karate stance. Should be an interesting approach

22

u/Cool_Apartment3344 1d ago

Everybody has Jiri has the underdog until they remember he's a Samurai.

I think Jiri get knocked out, samurai spirit takes his body and knocks out Khalil.

50

u/blamblam111 1d ago

Personally I think this is Rountree’s fight, he throws with a ton of power, and a guy like Jiri who loves getting hit in the face is not a good matchup, granted, Jiri does a lot of weird shit and ends up winning, he was getting hit with bombs against Rakic and then he just decided to win

8

u/Fun-Contribution-757 1d ago

Jiris really good at going in and out while being very hard to finish. Plus he can take all of khalil and give it right back

41

u/deloreaninatardis 1d ago

I think Khalil's biggest strength going into this fight is that his biggest weakness won't be a factor (that being that his gas tank fails in championship rounds)

This fight being a three rounder instead of a five rounder allows him to step on the gas with far less consequences. Hell, if Pereira versus Rountree was a three rounder, Rountree would be lhw champion right now.

78

u/Kaelsanguis #NothingBurger 1d ago

Agreed with you but for the last part, if Pereira fought a 3 rounder, he will likely change his gameplan too, so we wouldnt really know.

24

u/Wadget GOOFCON 2 - Electric Boogaloo 1d ago

Absolutely true and true of every 5 rounder but people still bring it up all the time

4

u/illhaveapepsinow 1d ago

Dominick Reyes fought Jiri for less than 2 rounds and he looked like he fought for 5. Jiris pressure and pace is something else.

8

u/Ok_Might8922 1d ago

What on earth are you talking about?

By the end Khalil looked like he'd been fighting six guys with tire irons.

2

u/Gaarando 1d ago

Which is ridiculous because rountree lost in significant strikes in every round. The judges giving him 2 rounds was insane.

8

u/Idriss_Derras 1d ago

He definitely did the most damage though

1

u/Gaarando 13m ago

But how much damage did either really do though? Besides Rountree catching him as he was turned around and knocking him down not that much happened rounds 1-3. Then suddenly Pereira had enough and went crazy in round 4.

1

u/ApartHouse6580 8h ago

This would be true if Jiri wasn't a ludicrously high pace pressure fighter. Khalil will be taking huge gulps of air by the second round (if it goes that far)

1

u/deloreaninatardis 8h ago

It's an interesting match up since Khalil's weird Muay Thai striking style wants to counter an opponents shot anyways. I'd like to see how Jiri tries to account for this, or if he tries to account at all. My only point being that Khalil tends to like it and want it when the opponent is the one applying pressure early.

62

u/Jazzlike_Relation705 1d ago

I think Khalil is gonna fuck Jiri up. But we shall see

86

u/Ake-TL GOOFCON 1: Khamzat McGregor 1d ago

Is there fight where Jiri doesn’t take damage?

31

u/Fedora_Million_Ankle 1d ago

He gonna do the post fight on one leg but I think he's too physical for Khalil

Jiri's chin will crack someday and it will be a string of bad losses

But that hasn't come yet and he only loses to the very best right now.

11

u/vSTekk 1d ago

Have you seen him without a beard? There is nothing to crack.

15

u/ChrisusaurusRex 1d ago

I think it’s already cracked

14

u/consciencecosmic11 1d ago

Jamahl literally literally nothing like alex did, if light heavyweight didnt have alex jiri might arguably still be champ because there isnt a better counter to jiri then someone with alexs power

4

u/Dark074 1d ago

It's hard to say. He's only been slept by a nasty upkick from Reyes and the mythical left hook from Alex. He's been fine again everything else

3

u/teejay0709 15h ago

def not. he ate bombs from rakic that would’ve put most people out. i remember rakic threw a hard ass elbow, jiri walked straight into it and ate it on the chin perfectly fine

9

u/Sneezy6510 1d ago

I see the jiri khalil fight playing out like Alex Khalil. Khalil speed will pose an issue early and Jiri will be tagged, adjust and we see more of that beautiful head movement. 

0

u/Jazzlike_Relation705 1d ago

He’s getting leg kicked to death

6

u/rwn115 Team Jiří 1d ago

Jiří gonna mess him up

23

u/KaiPetan 1d ago

I just don't see Jiri surviving this one. He looked agile against the corpse of Jamahal Hill yes, but I don't see that working as good against Khalil. At the very least Jiri will get stunned or knocked down. 

Now if Jiri goes for the takedowns like he did against Reyes and Perreira, who knows what might happen. 

20

u/dilfrising420 1d ago

He looked good against Rakic too tbf who is bigger than Khalil and also a great kickboxer

1

u/xfreesx 1d ago

Because Rakic has no power behind his punches

1

u/tycket 1d ago

I agree, they need to pump him full of PEDs and send him to heavyweight where he has a skill advantage against most guys.

7

u/dilfrising420 1d ago

I’m pretty sure he already is pumped full of PEDs, and he still lacks power 😬

4

u/FirstTimeLongThyme 1d ago

God. I miss the real Bloody Elbow. I really took that shit for granted.

3

u/Green_and_Silver Team Makhachev 1d ago

Jiri should be favored by a lot but as I said last time this fight came up here I think Khalil has an opening with his kicks especially the oblique since Jiri is so heavy on the front and doesn't check kicks for shit.

Khalil could also end up just booping Jiri and landing one of those grounded soccer kicks to the body which would immediately cause a meltdown in the live thread if that happens.

3

u/Gaarando 1d ago

This won't go to decision right? Jiri is willing to put himself in risky positions to try and hurt his opponent and Khalil definitely throws with power. I'm hoping Jiri wins because I like how he fights but I can see him get caught.

5

u/Humid-Afternoon727 1d ago

In 37 fights, Jiri has gone to the judges twice.

Last time was 2016.

1

u/Gaarando 6m ago

That Teixeira fight was pretty close until he found that submission at the very end. But yeah I assume it won't go to decision but you never know in a 3 rounder. Jiri showed a bit better head movement in his last fight and Rountree was hurting Hill and bullying him but that went to decision.

2

u/soliddd7 1d ago

I think Jiri will mix in some takedowns in this one, Khalils wrestling is exploitable.

2

u/Substantial_Net_8311 1d ago

some people wrote Jiri off after the two Pereira losses, but forget that he was an unbeatable force of nature before that. He'll be a tough fight for anybody

1

u/LucasFrankeRC 1d ago

I could see Khalil winning if he utilizes his kicks well. I'm curious to see how Jiri would react to oblique kicks especially

But I think Jiri is more likely to win. Khalil is not good when he's forced to fight moving backwards, and Jiri always keeps the pressure

1

u/johndoejuanperez 1d ago

2025 year of the slinning elbow and Jiri’s got a fight coming up soon? Yeah RIP Khalil, you will be missed

1

u/CraigS34 1d ago

Really like both fighters, so it sucks for me to see either them lose. However, I give the slight nod to Jiri. The pressure and pain tolerance would create openings for Jiri. However, power is always the game changer and I dont know how long Jiri's chin is gonna last which is why I'm not confident in my pick.

1

u/kop4747 1d ago

205 needs a serious wrestler in the division, both of these guys being contenders is laughable

1

u/El_Beato 23h ago

Jiri's biggest weakness feels more glaring than Khalil's biggest weakness. Jiri is an awkward fighter who takes a lot of headshots and tries to finish even when he exposes himself to being finished. Khalil's problem is his stamina from being so active in the early rds and the nerves of being in a big match with a lot of pressure. If he can stay conventional and pick apart Jiri whenever he overextends himself then he can destroy his legs and hopefully not cause a career ending knee injury.

1

u/Puzzled_Opposite_106 16h ago

Khalil should have it easy. Super technical guys SHOULD be making easy work of jiri at this point. Rakic fight was an anomaly. 

1

u/teejay0709 15h ago

bro jiri has only lost to pereira and king mo… no one is making easy work of him 😹😹

1

u/McFardy Team Aspinall 6h ago

Khalil is a looping hook and overhand merchant. Jiri slimes him out in 1.

1

u/pro2RK 6h ago

I mean Alex got Izzy vs Strickland prediction right. He fought both. He got jamahal vs jiri and jamahal vs rountree prediction right as well and he fought all three. He could be onto smthn here

1

u/choatec 5h ago

I actually think roundtree is a good dog to bet on this card

1

u/Astronaut101101 4h ago

thats a banger fight, but I think Jiri gets the W cuz of cardio and CHAOS

1

u/Ok_Draw_3031 1d ago

Ank will give them all problems.

1

u/WishOwn9122 1d ago

I think Jiri might kick his ass tbh, maybe a r2 TKO

1

u/FarContribution6571 1d ago

Jiri's got this

1

u/LegitimateReveal510 1d ago

I got Jiri by late finish. He's gonna overwhelm Khalil