Khalil Rountree reveals he went blind during UFC 307 title loss to Alex Pereira: “I couldn’t see anything”

UFC light-heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree is reflecting on his war with Alex Pereira.

‘The War Horse’ got one of the most unexpected title shots in October. Riding a five-fight win streak punctuated by a knockout of Anthony Smith last year, Khalil Rountree got a shot at Alex Pereira. For his part, ‘Poatan’ was fresh off a second-round knockout win over Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303 in late June.

Despite entering the cage a massive underdog, Khalil Rountree brought the fight to the champion. He dropped the Brazilian in round two and entered the championship rounds up on the scorecards. However, Alex Pereira ultimately rallied to score a gutsy fourth-round knockout win to retain the gold.

On fight night, many praised Khalil Rountree’s performance and his heart. However, he was fighting in much worse condition than many fans had thought. While Alex Pereira caused a brutal cut on the challenger’s eye, Rountree fought on. Speaking on the JAXXON Podcast, the light-heavyweight contender reflected on his UFC 307 loss.

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Khalil Rountree opens up on injuries following UFC 307 knockout loss to Alex Pereira

There, ‘The War Horse’ revealed that he was actually fighting blind against Alex Pereira. According to Khalil Rountree, he was blinded early in the contest after a big shot from ‘Poatan’. However, he decided to keep on fighting anyway, given the stakes.

“In the moment, I didn’t feel it.” Khalil Rountree stated, discussing his loss to UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. “For instance, in the fight where the cut happened, I got hit and boom. I knew I had gotten hit hard, because I started to see my vision blur a little bit. But the second one that landed, the one that actually split my eye, in that moment I went blind.”

He continued, “But I thought, ‘F*ck it, I’m going to keep going’. I didn’t see anything after that, I saw just light, I didn’t see shadows, I didn’t see anything. It was like if someone put a frosted film [over my eye]. I couldn’t see, I’m f*cking blind, but I’m not going to give up… My eye was f*cked up, but I thought I would deal with it later.”

What do you make of these comments from the UFC light-heavyweight contender? Who do you want to see Khali Rountree fight after his loss to Alex Pereira?