Khalil Rountree is looking forward to moving up the ranking once he defeats Anthony Smith, who accepted the bout despite the former being in the lower rank.
The two will face each other at UFC Fight Night 233 this weekend. Smith took the bout on short notice to replace Azamat Murzakanov, who backed out due to pneumonia. However, many view the fight as a risk for Smith.
Rountree boasts an impressive four-fight winning streak, with his latest success obtained from Chris Daukaus at UFC on ESPN 51 in August. With this, despite being on a lower rank, the fighter could bring an exciting fight to “Lionheart.” The No. 11-ranked fighter expressed excitement over the idea of defeating the opponent as it could translate to his rank improvement.
“I’d imagine that it would bring me higher in the rankings. I’d imagine that it would bring a good wave of new fans and potential popularity,” Rountree said during a pre-fight news conference this Wednesday. “I think it just helps my career elevate to another level or stage. The fact that this fight is co-main event is a great warm-up to a main event and being able to, I guess, even be worthy of having a main event.”
For Smith, on the other hand, losing could have an impact on his current position. Nonetheless, the 35-year-old recently dismissed the relevance of numbers and ranking in deciding what fight to take.
“The rankings are for people on Twitter and you guys,” Smith explained. “We don’t really pay attention to that too much. To be honest, the UFC doesn’t really pay that much attention to it either. Rankings are like a marketing machine. It’s really easy to make people care about something more when there are numbers next to their names.”
