UFC Baku Preview

The UFC is invading the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday, June 21 for UFC on ABC 8. The main event will be in the light heavyweight division between former champion #4 Jamahal Hill and former title challenger #7 Khalil Rountree Jr.

Hill is trying to rebound from two straight losses to former champions Alex Pereira and most recently by third round TKO to Jiri Prochazka. He won the vacant belt at UFC 283 in 2023 with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Glover Texeira but has been unable to claim victory since then.

The 34-year-old reflected on his current skid. “You have to make adjustments based off of what you see and what's happening in the fight,” he said. “This is a level everybody is fairly (good) at that, and then you're going to run into some guys that are really good at adjusting and really good at changing things up mid-fight. You gotta be ready for that, as well.”

Hill and Rountree were originally scheduled to fight in June of 2024, and despite Hill publicly disparaging Rountree’s rise to a title shot, he does have respect for his opponent.

“The biggest thing is that he’s always dangerous,” Hill said. “He comes, he throws, he throws with a lot of power, a lot of ferocity. He likes to be very, very aggressive. He’s kind of ruthless in the way that he comes at his opponents, so you got to be aware of that. But, for me, he's got to worry about everything. I have my own ferocity. I have my own speed. I believe I'm faster. I'm the taller, longer fighter, and I believe I have more experience against better competition.”

Hill continued, “He's got my undivided attention, which unfortunately for him is a bad place to be.”

There is a new champion in the division in Magomed Ankalaev and Hill wants to return to championship form with a win on Saturday. “Sweet Dreams (is) coming back to form, getting back to that championship form and just back to dominance,” he said. “That's the main thing I love to get back to.

“I'm looking to return the dominance to where I was before.”

Aside from Texeira, Hill has key victories over Thiago Santos, Johnny Walker and Jimmy Crute. He fought Pereira in what many considered to be a quick turn around after surgery for a torn achilles, but the pundits believe Prochazka exposed holes in his game in his last fight. However, a convincing win over Rountree will put him right back in the title conversation.

Rountree will be fighting for the first time since losing in a title fight by by fourth round TKO to Alex Pereira at UFC 307 in October. Prior to that he had won five straight fights and proved he is one of the most lethal strikers in the light heavyweight division.

The 35-year-old responded to Hill’s remarks leading up to this fight. "I think that's a mixture of a lot of things, but it's also not the first time that I've heard this," Rountree said. "I heard it against Alex (Pereira), we've heard it against Jiri (Prochazka). 'Alex is not on my level, Jiri is not on my level, Khalil Rountree is not on my level.' So, I'm just going to leave it at that (laughs). I'm prepared.”

Rountree fought a competitive fight against Pereira before being stopped. Does he believe a win over Hill puts him back in the title conversation?

"It's so hard to say with guys' decisions and choosing to fight who and this and that," Rountree said. "So, I really don't know what to expect, who's going to fight who, but all I know is that by the end of the year, I would love to be right there fighting for the belt again. Whether it would be Alex or whoever else. I don't care who's there, it's about the belt and my biggest dream is I would love for it to be in Vegas. I would love to fight for the belt in Vegas, at home, and get a chance to win it at home.”

While Rountree is unsure of what might happen at the top of the division, he does feel like he is at his best right now. "There's been talks of what we'd like after this, and I think that the UFC have their own ideas and thoughts on what they would want," Rountree said. "My plan is to put on a performance that makes a title shot again undeniable, if that makes any sense.

"I'm definitely sure that I'm ready to be a champion, and I'm ready to be that champion. Everything that I'm working on and doing is to be prepared for that again. That's absolutely what I want and what I'm gunning for. So my plan is to put on an undeniable performance, so that I can get that chance again.”

Despite losing by TKO, Rountree feels he learned a valuable lesson in his last fight. "I saw how far I was willing to go," Rountree said. "I was really tested to the very end in that fight. I went as far as I possibly could. In my mind, I enjoyed the whole thing. I enjoyed it all the way through, and it was just something that I remember. I gave my absolute all in that fight, so I got to experience what that feels like. I think that it just helped me grow — and not necessarily be afraid of the fire, for lack of better words. I've been through the fire, and although I didn't make it out victorious, I've been there, and I felt that, I felt it. So I think it toughened me up a bit.

"No fight stands out to me like that one does as far as having to go into deep waters.”

The rest of the main card:

155 lbs.: Rafael Fiziev vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
265 lbs.: Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
155 lbs.: Myktybek Orolbai vs. Tofiq Musayev
155 lbs.: Nazim Sadykhov vs. Nikolas Motta
145 lbs.: Muhammad Naimov vs. Bogdan Grad

Prelims on ESPN2/ESPN+:

170 lbs.: Seokhyeon Ko vs. Oban Elliott
185 lbs.: Ismail Naurdiev vs. Jun Yong Park
135 lbs.: Darya Zhelezniakova vs. Melissa Mullins
135 lbs.: Irina Alekseeva vs. Klaudia Syguła
125 lbs.: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Azat Maksum
265 lbs.: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Mohammed Usman