Khalil Rountree Reveals He Suffered Knee Injury Prior to UFC Baku

Khalil Rountree performed quite well at UFC Baku despite not being 100% healthy.

In a video on his YouTube channel, the light heavyweight standout revealed that he suffered a torn meniscus in camp ahead of his unanimous decision triumph over Jamahal Hill in this past Saturday’s main event.

“I’d say about halfway through training camp, when I was training jiu-jitsu, is 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 running, jiu-jitsu, and pads — that’s when I first started feeling the discomfort. It only grew from there until one day I woke up and it was really hard for me to walk and even stand. So I got it checked out and ended up having a torn meniscus,” Rountree said.

“Once I found out what the injury was, I think it was only about three weeks away from the actual fight day. So it was obviously stressful, but I had just amazing, positive support to keep going and not let it affect my mental, and to do whatever I could to push through it, and to take challenges and things like this as motivation. Use the obstacle as motivation.”

Torn Meniscus Limited Khalil Rountree’s Sparring in Camp

“The War Horse” outstruck Hill for the better part of five rounds in a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph. While the action was often deliberate, Rountree was in control for the majority of the fight as he rebounded from a loss to Alex Pereira in a 205-pound title bout last October. Though the knee injury hindered his ability to spar, it did allow him to enter the fight feeling more energized.

“Initially, I was devastated, and I wasn’t really able to train how I wanted to,” Rountree said. “But it was kind of a blessing in disguise, because [Saturday] I came into the cage really fresh, because I haven’t been able to spar in three weeks. There hasn’t really been a lot of contact, because the last three weeks has just been recovery, on top of getting sick during fight week.”

Rountree has won six of his last seven UFC appearances dating back to September 2021.