Jamahal Hill: UFC champ Alex Pereira 'definitely struggles' against southpaws
Jamahal Hill expects Khalil Rountree’s striking stance to pose problems for UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defends his title against Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in the UFC 307 main event Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City. Hill was knocked out by Pereira in their title fight at UFC 300 but thinks Rountree being a southpaw will present a look that Pereira has struggled with in the past.
“The thing Khalil has going for him is he’s a southpaw,” Hill told Aljamain Sterling on his YouTube channel. “He has valuable threats from southpaw. If you look at his (Pereira’s) kickboxing career, southpaw is a stance that gives him trouble. Can he beat southpaws? Yes. But, I haven’t seen him really dominate a southpaw that has multiple threats from southpaw. You saw Jiri, but Jiri just went to southpaw. He was very flat-footed. He didn’t really have anything from it. …
“The most he’s seen from it was Bruno Silva. People wonder why 6-foot Bruno Silva gave him trouble. Because Bruno Silva has the ability to fight southpaw. The second fight against Izzy (Adesanya), go look, which way does Izzy stand? I pay attention to the details. If you have weapons from southpaw, he struggles. He definitely struggles.”
Hill has a vested interest in Pereira vs. Rountree and plans on being in attendance for the fight. “Sweet Dreams” was scheduled to face Rountree at UFC 303 in June, but Rountree withdrew after a failed drug test. Carlos Ulberg stepped in, but Hill wound up pulling out due to injury.
“I’m going to go,” Hill said. “It makes sense, and it affects what’s next for me and things like that. I’m going to go out there.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.