Khalil Rountree Jr. was set to headliner the upcoming UFC event in Kansas City, Mo., but his former champion opponent suffered an injury.
The fight was set to close the show at UFC on ESPN 66 at T-Mobile Center on April 26, but now, Rountree Jr. (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) is left without an opponent due to Jamahal Hill suffering an undisclosed injury. The new main event of the card will be a welterweight showdown between Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates.
Tuesday evening, Rountree Jr. released a video on his YouTube channel reacting to the news.
“So, I just got off the phone with the UFC, and it appears that Jamahal Hill is injured, not able to fight in Kansas City on the 26th of April,” Rountree Jr. said. “So, looks like I’m out of a fight, and it’s going to be postponed. I don’t know when, but it looks like that’s the case so far.
“I have no idea what the issue is. All I know is that UFC told me that he had to pull out due to an injury. Usually they don’t give too many details as to what the injury is or whatever, but they did tell me that it was an injury and that he needed more time to recover from this injury, which is why they’re going to postpone the fight.”
The fight was to be Rountree Jr.’s first fight since being stopped in a title fight against then-champion Alex Pereira at UFC 307 in October. Rountree Jr. won five straight fights to get the call to fight for the title, and although he took home part of the Fight of the Night bonus, he did not take home the title.
Rountree Jr. hopes the matchup against Hill (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) stays together in order to get back to another shot at the light heavyweight title, which is now held by Magomed Ankalaev. He admits the news is a little upsetting, but he also feels bad for the fans who may have already made travel arrangements to watch his fight in Kansas City.
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