All the respect in the world to Khalil Rountree Jr. We knew coming in that this was going to be a Glory match with smaller gloves and that's what it was. Rountree kept his guard high and tight to ward off Pereira's left hook. He managed to tag Poatan a few times, especially with that left roundhouse kick, which probably would have put most other LHW's to sleep. And he fought like a true Nak Muay until his body couldn't keep up with his will to fight.
Light Heavyweight Pereira is his most dangerous form. At Middleweight, Alex gave up some power and a lot of chin. Rountree, who is extremely heavy handed, fired the artillery at Pereira and Pereira kept coming at him, corralling Rountree with good footwork, and picked him apart until he finally crumbled. Thankfully, Pereira is not trying to fight again this year. Who does he fight next? If Ankalaev wins at 308, he's probably going to call up the other mountain boys to take Dana hostage until he agrees to give him a title shot. A do-over with Jan would probably sell tickets and buys. Depending on how greedy Jon Jones is, if he beats Stipe, he could probably convince Dana to book him against Pereira for the Heavyweight Championship and get his last big pay day (which would also piss off Aspinall and Ankalaev). I don't believe Dricus is seriously going to up to LHW to take a beating from Pereira, but who knows what will happen.
Something needs to be done about MMA judges, because last night was totally out of line. Mario Bautista doesn't deserve a win over Jose Aldo for 12 failed takedowns and about 10 minutes of cage hugging. Likewise, Pennington got fucked over and I bet on Pena to win. I'm still going to collect it, but the judges must have been watching something else, but Pena didn't do enough to get the belt back. I looked at the official score cards for Pereira vs. Rountree and the judges went two rounds out of three to Rountree, which indicates heavy fentanyl use.