Magomed Ankalaev has been asking for a fight amid claiming that Alex Pereira is not going to fight him again. Moreover, the former champion has been speculated to make the jump to the heavyweight division. And that’s where Khalil Rountree Jr. comes in, who recently scored a clinical win against Jamahal Hill at UFC Baku. However, the former title contender revealed that he headed into the fight injured.

Yes, Khalil Rountree Jr. could have been the next person to fight for Magomed Ankalaev’s light heavyweight belt. Fans were startled when Alex Pereira weighed roughly 243 pounds, which added to the rumors that he might go up to heavyweight. If that happens, Rountree Jr. looks like the proper person to go for the gold. But the 35-year-old said that he was actually coping with a torn meniscus, which he got while exercising with bigger partners.

“I think when I was training jiu-jitsu, it was the first time I felt some discomfort in my knee, just from training with bigger guys and doing four sessions per day on top of like running, jiu-jitsu, and pads,” Khalil Rountree Jr. stated on his YouTube channel. “It only just kind of grew from there until one day, [when] I woke up and it was just really hard for me to walk and even stand. So I got it checked out and ended up having a torn meniscus.”

Moreover, the former title contender also claims that he did not train for almost a month before his fight against Jamahal Hill. He wanted to recover and didn’t want to risk making the injury even worse. But everything turned out to be just fine as Rountree Jr. dominated ‘Sweet Dreams’ for a well-deserved decision win, as the 35-year-old claims not training prior to the fight helped him stay “fresh.”

“Once I found out what the injury was, I think… it was only about three weeks away from actual fight day… I wasn’t really able to train how I wanted to, but it was kind of a blessing in disguise because tonight I came into the cage really fresh because I haven’t been able to spar in three weeks,” Khalil Rountree Jr. added.

Well, Khalil Rountree Jr. would have to sit on the sidelines for a while, as he’s potentially going to get slapped with a medical suspension. This would, in turn, crush his hopes of fighting for the title anytime soon. Besides, when Alex Pereira addressed the rumors of a potential heavyweight move for him, he appeared to dismiss them, which only adds to Rountree Jr.’s woes because this diminishes any chance of him fighting Ankalaev ahead of Pereira.

Alex Pereira is focused on the light heavyweight title

During a recent interview, Alex Pereira dismissed all the rumors that link him to a move away from the 205-pound division. He asserted that regaining the light heavyweight title is what he’s looking for at the moment, shutting down Magomed Ankalaev’s claims. Moreover, Pereira even refused to comment on the state of the heavyweight division because once again, he emphasized that he’s a light heavyweight fighter at the moment.

“My focus is on my weight class, Ankalaev is the fight that makes sense,” he said in Portuguese. “In the future, I don’t know what will happen, but that’s my focus now in my next fight. It’s to win my belt again, that’s it,” Alex Pereira told ‘MMA Fighting’, “If I were really a heavyweight, I could have an opinion now. But let those guys kill each other, argue, fight, whatever they want to say, but I know my weight class.”

Well, things aren’t looking good for Khalil Rountree Jr., but fans can rest easy since Alex Pereira is going to move weight classes, at least, in their present scenario. The wait now is for the official announcement and what lies ahead for the aforementioned fighters. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.