Khalil Rountree Jr: Purified by Pain
I have asked myself the question “Why do I like MMA?” more than once. As someone who has a tendency to occasionally wonder what the hell is wrong with them, pondering about reasons that make this beautifully violent sport so attractive comes naturally to me.
As hard as it was to find an answer, I was sure: there were many things that fascinated me about MMA but violence wasn’t one of them. As shy as I am to admit it, you will not find the bloody masterpiece painted by Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker on the list of my favorite fights. Seeing GSP lock in that brutal armbar in his fight against Dan Hardy was not pleasant for me in any way either. And you can be damn sure that I did not feel any satisfaction after witnessing Rose Namajunas get head-slammed by Jessica Andrade.
What draws me to fighting has very little to do with blood and broken limbs — my love of combat sports originates from the (perhaps a bit unhealthy) belief that pain cleanses and overcoming challenges sets you free.
After graduating high school, Khalil Routree Jr. was far from being free. On the contrary — he was living someone else’s dream. His childhood friends found rare success in the music business, got signed to a record label, and went on tour. Khalil went with them — he did not perform in the band itself but possessed enough knowledge and experience to be a valuable asset “behind the scenes” — helping with the setup, selling merch, etc. During breaks between tour legs, he worked at one of the famous fast-food sandwich restaurant chains in his native Las Vegas. From the outside looking in, this kind of life may seem quite attractive: you get to go on tours with the band and you don’t even have to play or deal with any additional stress — sweet!
But the young man was everything but happy. The family struggled financially, going to college wasn’t really an option, and living in the entertainment capital of the world is only fun when you can actually participate in the festivities. Having lost his father at an early age — the boy was only 2 years old when his dad was murdered — Khalil constantly experienced the same thing that countless young people struggle with around the world: he didn’t have enough confidence to make a change in his life. And while Routree did have two older brothers, the age gap wasn’t big enough for him to view either of them as an authority or a father-figure.
Most people try to cure unrealized potential with the same old “medicine”: a potent mix of alcohol, fast food, and nicotine. Khalil tried following the same path… but soon discovered that the only destination this route led to was the same for everyone — depression. The young man weighed 300 lbs, smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day, and often asked himself: why am I even alive?
In search of an answer to this (fairly) important question, Khalil returned home from tour one day to find his brother, Donavon, nursing a shoulder injury. When asked what happened, the young man explained that he had been injured in a mixed martial arts training.
Mixed martial arts? Khalil listened in amazement as Donavon explained that, in fact, there was such a sport and there were gyms in Las Vegas where people learned to fight.
As his brother continued to rehab the injury, Khalil joined him in watching The Ultimate Fighter show and soon discovered that there were other young people who, similarly to him, also struggled financially and whose lives weren’t exactly illuminated by the bright light of opportunities. But, as it appeared, there was a solution and the possibility of a better future. One only needed to fight for it… quite literally.
Together the brothers showed up at the gym of Khalil’s newly discovered favorite fighter, Wanderlei Silva, and attended a morning workout — a Muay Thai class. And, from the first minute of hitting the pads, Khalil Routry experienced what he had spent years searching for in all the wrong places: relief. Relief from the quiet, suppressed anger that has been accumulating in this shy kid since early childhood. Also, for the first time in the young man’s life, an adult told him that he could actually get good at doing something if he just stuck with it. In Khalil’s case, the ‘adult’ was one of the coaches, and the ‘something’ was boxing and Muay Thai.
I often say that everyone needs a hero. Sometimes, however, the only thing a person needs is for someone to simply say: “Come back again tomorrow.”
And so Khalil came back… “Tomorrow”, the day after “tomorrow” and the day after that. Breathing during workouts was still a challenge, so he quit smoking. He noticed that people at the gym were eating differently, so he quit fast food. 11 months and 100 lbs later, Khalil Rountree Jr. had his first fight, which resulted in an 18-second TKO.
Early success was followed by several more wins on the regional stage… And then, befitting any dramatic movie script worth its salt, comes a turning point: Khalil gets offered a high-paying job in construction. Sure, working in this field is extremely physically demanding, but, unlike a pro-fighter’s career, at least there is a guaranteed paycheck at the end of every week. Also, the hammer does not try to hit you back with a spinning wheel kick, which is a nice little bonus. So Khalil makes the only rational decision and stops actively competing in MMA.
Another thing I often say is: what is truly ‘yours’ can’t miss you. After a few weeks of working in construction, Khalil accidentally runs into his old coach, John Wood — yes, the same John Wood that just a few weeks ago led Merab Dvalishvili to the UFC gold. Wood, a firm believer in his student’s potential, asks Rountree to give him a week to change the athlete’s mind.
As it turns out, a lot can happen in a week. Most importantly — Khalil gets offered another fight on the regional circuit. Around that same time, the casting for the 23rd season of The Ultimate Fighter is announced. The show that got Khalil to fall in love with MMA in the first place yet again changes his life: Rountree goes through the casting, reaches the show’s final and, despite suffering his first professional defeat, receives a contract from the UFC.
The rest is history… History, which will be full of ups and downs, and where Rountree Jr. will be asked to prove his commitment to fighting more than once. However, the only thing that the reader needs to know is that Khalil will pass the test every time.
In the end, his unwavering loyalty to this violently beautiful sport will pay off: after numerous challenges, the stars finally align so that the #8-ranked Rountree gets an unexpected chance to fight for the light heavyweight title against the current champion, Alex Pereira. One may say that a fight with Poatan hardly qualifies as a ‘payoff’. Well, I see the situation differently:
On October 6, a young man, who once thought he would die in his sleep from the amount of alcohol and junk food he regularly consumed, made his walk to the octagon at the Delta Center arena in Salt Lake City. The man who once was suicidal. Who, until the age of 21, had never met a single person that told him “You can do this!”, and who, instead of fulfilling his own potential, wasted precious time standing in the shadowy curtains of somebody else’s dream.
If victorious on October 6 in Salt Lake City, Khalil Rountree Jr. would become the lowest-ranked fighter in the organization’s history to ever win a UFC belt. In English, we call that a ‘Cinderella story’.
But real life is far from a fairy tale and, after four grueling rounds, Rountree would lose to the defending champion. However, in this defeat, Khalil gained more than most of those, who were triumphant on the same evening.
On October 6 in Salt Lake City, Khalil Rountree Jr. did not betray his dream of becoming a UFC champion even for a second.
And sure, it’s a dream that not everyone gets to fulfill. At the same time, I am almost certain that this is not the last title fight of Rountree’s career. And, although I have no idea if the athlete will ever have that 11-pound gold belt wrapped around his waist, one thing I know for sure:
If overcoming struggle, in fact, sets you free and pain really cleanses, on that day, no one in the whole world was purer in spirit than Khalil Rountree Jr.
