Khalil Rountree Details How MMA Pulled Him Off Self-Destructive Path

Khalil Rountree was in a dark place in life before starting MMA.

Rountree challenges Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title in the main event at UFC 307 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The War Horse” recently detailed how the sport helped him out from difficult spot in life years ago.

Rountree was just 2 years old when he lost his father, who once worked as a bodyguard for Muhammad Ali. Without the presence of someone to assure him about life, Rountree feels he wasn’t strong enough to face some challenges.

“When I was 2 years old, my father was murdered,” Rountree said on the UFC 307 Countdown show. “He was a manager for Boyz II Men, New Edition. There was a time in his career where he was a personal bodyguard for Muhammad Ali. At his funeral I remember there being hundreds and thousands of people… I think the biggest thing was that I didn’t the courage to face certain challenges because I didn’t have anyone that stood there and let me know everything would be OK.”

UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

Rountree eventually took to excessive drinking, smoking and even consuming random prescription pills that made him very unhealthy. Weighing over 300 pounds, Rountree was trying to sleep one night when his heart starting behaving abnormally to the point where he thought he would die. That’s when the future UFC light heavyweight title challenger decided to get into fitness, and MMA was a perfect match.

“That led me down a path of self destruction,” Rountree said. “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 all of my pain. I remember stepping on the scale and it said 305 pounds. There was a night where I trying to fall asleep, and I just felt my heart doing really really weird things that it shouldn’t have been doing. And there was a moment where I thought, ‘OK, this is the night. Like, I’m gonna die in my sleep.’ And that was when I started to think about, ‘OK, what can I do to hold on to my life?’ And that’s what drove me to start being more open minded to things that involved fitness and health. And MMA was perfect for me.”