Khalil Rountree Jr. has made it to the top of MMA the hard way.
The surging light heavyweight contender hopes to become a champion when he takes on Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 307 on Saturday night.
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Rountree has come a long way from the days he’s weighed almost 22 stone.
The 32-year-old lost his father when he was just a toddler. Khalil Rountree Sr. lived an incredible life managing pop stars and looking after boxing royalty before he was murdered in 1992.
‘The War Horse’ has spoken with pride about his father ahead of UFC 307.
“When I was two years old, my father was murdered,” Rountree said during the UFC 307 Countdown show.
“He was a manager for Boyz II Men and New Addition. There was a time in his career where he was a personal bodyguard for Muhammad Ali.
“At his funeral, I remember there being hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
“When I think about that, you’ve got to be a certain type of person to have complete strangers and just a massive amount of people coming to your funeral to honour your life.”
Rountree says his father’s premature passing hindered his formative years.
The celebrated UFC star feared he would eat, smoke and drink himself into an early grave before finding MMA and becoming one of the most exciting fighters on Dana White’s roster.
He added: “I didn’t have the courage to face certain challenges because I didn’t have anyone that stood there and let me know ‘Everything would be okay’.
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“It kind of held me back a bit. That led me down a path of self-destruction.
“I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. I was drinking alcohol non-stop. I was taking random prescription pills just trying to numb the pain.
“I remember stepping on a scale and it said 305lbs. There was a night where I was trying to fall asleep, and I could I just feel my heart doing really, really weird things that it shouldn’t have been doing.
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“There was a moment where I thought, ‘Okay, this is the night. I’m going to die in my sleep’. That was when I started to think about what I can to do to hold onto my life.
“That’s what drove me to be more open-minded about things that involved fitness and health. MMA was perfect for me.”
Rountree has already made his family proud by turning around his life.
Now he wants to cap off a remarkable recovery by becoming a UFC champion.
The 13-5 fighter has promised to stand and bang with Pereira this weekend.
So, no matter what happens, he'll entertain everyone watching UFC 307.
