Alex Pereira returns to Utah for title bout against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Alex Pereira is gearing up to fight his fourth bout in less than a year when he seeks to retain his light heavyweight championship against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 on Saturday night.

Measured by any standard, it’s a brisk fight schedule for a title belt holder. Pereira wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Usually after the fights I say want to take some time, give a little gap,” Pereira said through a translator at UFC 307 media day Wednesday. “Then I come back to the gym, and I start training, and I start seeing where my evolution lies and see that I got to keep doing this more often.”

Returning to Utah to fight Roundtree represents a true full-circle moment for Pereira.

His road to becoming the light heavyweight champion began a year ago at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City. Pereira defeated Jan Blachowicz via split decision in his first bout after moving up from the middleweight division, where he was a former UFC champion. A victory over Blachowicz didn’t come easy. Pereira weathered early takedowns in the first two rounds before rallying and prevailing in the third.

Now he returns to Utah on a four-bout winning streak and is feeling in peak condition going into the fight.

“The body’s good,” Pereira said. “Things happen sometimes here and there. That’s the price to be fighting often. But I think everything is good. We’ve got great results from it.”

Rountree is trying to obtain his first career UFC championship. The Las Vegas resident has won five straight fights coming into Salt Lake City and is ranked No. 8 overall in the light heavyweight division.

Rountree is a controversial choice to fight Pereria after getting selected over higher ranked challengers and comes into the bout after serving a drug suspension earlier in the year. He's also a decided underdog against Pereria, a fighter whose prowess inside the octagon has led some fans to label him as the “final boss” in the light heavyweight division.

Still, Rountree has a history of pulling off major upsets in his UFC career. He’s eager to show he can stand toe-to-toe with Pereria and dethrone the champ.

“That’s definitely a fun way to look at it, especially from a fan standpoint, if they see Alex as the final boss and I get to go and take my shot at the final boss,” Rountree said.

Raquel Pennington will seek to defend the women’s bantamweight title from Julianna Pena in the co-main event bout. Pennington comes to Utah on a six-fight winning streak. Pena, the No. 1 ranked fighter in the bantamweight division, is a former UFC champion looking to kickstart a second title run. She claimed the bantamweight crown at UFC 269 in December 2021 following an upset win over Amanda Nunes but lost the title at UFC 277 six months later in a rematch bout with Nunes.

Pena criticized Pennington at length on Wednesday, saying she is not doing enough to promote women’s MMA fighting away from the octagon.

“She has constantly done everything that she can to avoid being the face of women’s MMA,” Pena said. “I want to be that person. That’s my role and I can do it better and that’s why I believe that I’m going to be able to seal the deal on Saturday night and be able to get that gold again.”

Pennington shot back at those accusations, noting she has tried to get a bout with Pena for 11 years without success until now. She believes her record as a fighter speaks for itself and is confident about holding her own against Pena.

“All she does is talk (expletive). She keeps herself relevant that way,” Pennington said. “This is 14 years of hard work. I got here by staying in my lane.”

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This story corrects ninth paragraph to make it light heavyweight division instead of lightweight division.

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John Coon, The Associated Press