This shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those who watched Khalil Rountree Jr. unsuccessfully challenge Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight championship Saturday in the main event of UFC 307 at The Delta Center in Salt Lake City, but three days later, Rountree is in plenty of pain.
He suffered a gnarly gash on his nose in training that required a trip to a plastic surgeon to close and try to keep from Pereira.
But in the fight, Pereira delivered a frightful beating that left Rountree, who was ahead 29-28 on all three judges' cards at the time of the stoppage in the fourth round, with a severely swollen and disfigured face.
Rountree was a big underdog, but he fought bravely and aggressively against one of the UFC's most powerful strikers. As the fight wore on, Pereira's power was showing on Rountree's fade, he told me Tuesday in an interview we did for my YouTube channel.
"I don’t know what punch, but I know that last uppercut before the body shots definitely landed on my nose, but I already had felt some pain in my head," Rountree said.
After being sent to the emergency room in Salt Lake City for examination after the fight, Rountree flew home to Las Vegas. On Monday, he opted to do a septoplasty, a surgical procedure that helps to repair a deviated septum.
It was, however, not a lot of fun.
"The doctors saw that there was some slight fracturing and a severely deviated septum, so we went right ahead and corrected that as soon as I got home," Rountree said. "It was definitely the most uncomfortable, painful procedure I’ve ever had. Last night, it was the hardest sleep. My mouth is constantly dry and just a constant headache. Inside my nose, my nasal cavities right now are just stuffed with sponges and splints. It’s very, very uncomfortable."
He's going to be out for a while recovering, though he said he hopes to be able to fight former champion Jamahal Hill in the first quarter of next year.
He's going to take his time to give his body time to rest and recover before fighting.
Despite the agony he went through, though, he said he wouldn't change a thing.
"Every scar that I have, every bump, it’s all worth it,” Rountree said. “For me to have worked this hard to get to the point of fighting Alex in a main event for the title, everything that came with it was absolutely worth it. I wouldn’t change one thing.”
