Khalil Rountree's fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 307 taught him a vital lesson in composure and strategy. As an underdog, Rountree shockingly led on the scorecards after two rounds. However, forgetting his lead led him to take excessive risks in the fourth round, which ultimately resulted in his defeat. In his latest fight against Jamahal Hill at UFC Baku, Rountree applied lessons learned, remaining composed and making strategic decisions throughout the match, resulting in a decisive unanimous victory, showcasing more effective fight management and restraint this time.
One of the things that scarred me the Alex fight was that - I remember after the third round finished, John Wood said to me, '10 minutes left, just stick in there for 10 minutes.' And in my mind I was so emotional, that kind of just made me, 'send it.' I didn't really consider that I was up two rounds, down one and I kind of could have backed off a little bit in the fourth round in that fight.
But I just went balls to the wall in that fight, which kind of put me in danger. So this time I just made sure that I used my time effectively... During different exchanges, I would know when I was up. So I'm like, 'OK this is my round.' So once I felt like I had the round then I was able to just pull back a little bit and not get greedy.
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