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mixed-martial-arts | Wednesday, June 18, 2025 9:47 AM

UFC Fight Night: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree

UFC Fight Night: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree
Marko Milijic
Marko Milijic
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Believe it or not, the UFC hits Baku, Azerbaijan this weekend with a stellar Light Heavyweight bout. Former champion Jamahal Hill faces former title contender Khalil Rountree in an eliminator fight that might set the winner up for yet another shot at the title. With the Light Heavyweight title being in the hands of Magomed Ankalaev and the rematch between him and Alex Pereira imminent, this was the most high-profile fight that they could have made, and I am absolutely loving it.

Besides these two heavy sluggers, the UFC Baku card also includes a showdown between Rafael Fiziev and Ignacio Bahamondes, as well as Curtis Blaydes, who is getting back into the octagon opposite Rizvan Kuniev. This card could definitely be a surprise card as I expect to see a ton of stoppages and not a lot of involvement on the judge’s part.

Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Prediction

The Hill vs. Rountree matchup is a chance for both of them to get back into contention. More so, if one of them produces a stellar knockout, it could bump them up in the rankings and perhaps line them up for another crack at the title.

Jamahal Sweet Dreams Hill should be the one with more concerns here. With a two-fight losing streak, a heavy loss here would not only mean him dropping from the pecking order. But in defence of Hill, he went down to superior fighters. He received back-to-back knockouts, first against Alex Pereira and then against Jiri Prochazka. After capturing the title against Glover Teixeira and being sidelined with injury Sweet Dreams has been on the decline.

Meanwhile, Khalil Rountree’s five-fight win streak came to an end against Alex Pereira. Even though no one expected for Rountree to even be there, he gave it all that he had and in the end went out on his shield. Poaton was the superior fighter that day and it was only through sheer grit and determination that Rountree held out till the fourth round.

Khalil War Horse Rountree comes in as the favourite in this one, mainly due to the run that Hill has been in recent bouts. Both guys are heavy hitters and can brawle till exhaustion. While I do think that Rountree has stamina for days and is as tough as it gets, he does not have the one-punch knockout power that Hill has. Khalil has to overwhelm Jamahal with punches in order to win. If Hill manages to overcome the onslaught of attacks and finds a crack through the defence of Rountree, he has an excellent chance of winning. 

I would actually bet on the dark horse to win here. Hill is more experienced in five-round fights and does have the technical skills needed to end this fight, even with TKO. He just needs to find his rhythm early on. 


Rest of the Card

The rest of the Baku card is riddled with local talent and fighters from the region. Unfortunately, due to injury, we will not be seeing the return of Kyoji Horiguchi, but there are two other fights that for me jump off the page than the rest.


Rafael Fiziev vs. Ignacio Bahamondes

For me, this is a potential fight of the night. You actually rarely see Fiziev being involved in a boring fight, and Bahamondes is the perfect dance opponent for both of them to showcase their skills.

Rafael Ataman Fiziev is entering the bout on a three-fight losing streak. However, two of those defeats came to Justin Gaethje, while the Mateusz Gamrot loss came due to an injury that later sidelined Fiziev for almost two years. Now, he is as determined as it gets to get back to his winning ways. He has had a full camp this time, and we should be seeing improvements from him as opposed to the short-notice fight that he had against Gaethje last time.

Meanwhile, Ignacio Bahamondes is on the best run of his career. He won three in a row, all stoppages, with two KOs and one submission win. Knockouts against Christos Giagos and Manuel Torres were impressive enough, but the best came against Jalin Turner, whom he defeated at UFC 313 via triangle choke. 

The opening odds favoured Fiziev at the start, but I think that they can be attributed to him having the home crowd on his side. Bahamondes is younger, taller, and lankier and can command the reach with his expert-style boxing. Unfortunately, he lacks the wrestling credentials that could truly help him.

On the other hand, Fiziev is an excellent grappler and has an excellent wrestling base. The thing is that he does not use it at all. He prefers doing damage on his feet and also employs a lot of kicks. And I do think that it is where his downfall will come. Bahamondes is on the come-up and since the fight is not going down to the ground, I think that he is going to overwhelm Fiziev with punches and win via decision.


Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev

This is the third time that UFC has made this fight, and it seems that we are finally getting it. Kuniev is making his Octagon debut, and it comes after a TKO win against Hugo Cunha in Dana White’s Contender Series. He is a heavy-handed slugger and has six KO/TKO wins in his MMA career.

Curtis Blaydes is not a mystery to anyone. He is a premier wrestler with more than decent hands and explosive punching power. Unfortunately, the style that he utilises has led him to being cracked by powerful punchers, hence the defeats against the likes of Tom Aspinall, Sergei Pavlovich, and Derrick Lewis.

He currently has a 4-3 record and is coming off a loss to Aspinal. So he is going to want to get back to the winning column as fast as he can. His method to victory may be an unpopular one, but if he manages to implement his wrestling game early on, perhaps get Kuniev to the ground, it might lead him to even finishing things here.

However, he has to try to avoid the heavy hands of Kuniev first. If Rizvan starts cracking Blaydes early on, it could spell doom for Razor Blaydes. But I don’t see that happening. Curtis is far more experienced to allow that, and Kuniev still has to taste what it truly means to be in the UFC. So I give the advantage to Blaydes and him taking this one, optimistically via ground pound and TKO win.


SAFER GAMBLING

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more than we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.

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