UFC 307 predictions: Khalil Rountree Jr to shock the world and put a stop to Alex Pereira’s recent dominance

UFC 307 lands in Salt Lake City, Utah, this coming Saturday as Alex Pereira looks to defend his light heavyweight title in the main event against controversial contender, Khalil Rountree Jr.

Alex Pereira has undoubtedly formed into one of the UFC’s biggest stars and on Saturday night, he will have the chance to further cement his status in the promotion.

Standing across from him is a controversial challenge, as many thought Khalil Rountree Jr didn’t deserve to be fighting for the title despite his recent streak.

The light heavyweight title fight isn’t the only title fight on the sneakily good card, though, as in the co-main event, Raquel Pennington looks to defend her women’s bantamweight title against Julianna Pena.

Also on the card is one of the greatest fighters of all time, Jose Aldo, as he could be edging closer to retirement depending on the result of his fight against Mario Bautista.

Let’s get straight into our main card predictions.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCRoman Dolidze (13-3) vs Kevin Holland (26-11-0, 1NC) – Middleweight boutOpening up the blockbuster main card is a great middleweight matchup between Roman Dolidze and Kevin Holland.

In his last outing against Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302, ‘The Trailblazer’ moved back up to middleweight which seemingly suits him better as he picked up an impressive win.

Having said that, Dolidze is regarded as quite a big 185lber with his last fight having come at 205lbs, and I think Holland could end up struggling with that size disadvantage this time out.

‘The Caucasian’ has exhibited a few times during his UFC tenure that he can dominate fights on the ground and does well to mix up his attacks. Although Holland has the tendency to be awkward for his opponent, I can see Dolidze picking up the win here by just being more versatile.

Prediction: Roman Dolidze via decision

MORE UFC 307: Kamaru Usman explains why he’s picking Khalil Rountree to ‘shock the world’ in the main event of UFC 307 this weekendKetlen Vieira (14-3) vs Kayla Harrison (17-1) – Women’s bantamweight boutKayla Harrison makes her second UFC outing on Saturday against Brazilian contender, Ketlen Vieira, in what is more than likely a title eliminator fight.

Following her extremely successful UFC debut back in April at UFC 300, fans called for Harrison to be fast-tracked to a title fight, but for whatever reason, the promotion opted for a different matchup.

Vieira’s only loss in her last four fights came against the current champion, Raquel Pennington and it was a split decision loss. The 33-year-old is no slouch and could pose a problem for the Olympic gold medalist.

Despite that, Harrison dealt with Holly Holm extremely easily in her first promotional outing, and I see her having a similar success against Vieira.

Although Vieira is better defensively wrestling and grappling than Holm, Harrison’s relentless power should get her over the hump in this fight and I can see her picking up another dominant win on the way to a title fight.

Prediction: Kayla Harrison via decision

Jose Aldo (32-8) vs Mario Bautista (14-2) – Bantamweight boutMaking the 22nd appearance of his UFC career, Jose Aldo edges ever closer to retirement as the 38-year-old takes on Mario Bautista.

Last time out, Aldo made his return to his home city, Rio de Janeiro, where he dominated Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301, showing he still has a place in the UFC bantamweight division.

Bautista on the other hand last fought in January, picking up a unanimous decision win against the regressing Ricky Simon, extending his win streak to six in a row.

The 31-year-old has the chance to break into the top 15 of the 135lb division, with ‘The King of Rio’ currently occupying 10th place in the rankings.

Unfortunately for the MMA Lab product, though, after seeing how well Aldo dealt with the threat of Martinez, I’m confident that the former featherweight king is still a huge danger for those who are matched up with him prematurely.

For Bautista, it just seems like a big step up too soon despite his streak, and I personally favor Aldo in this matchup.

Prediction: Jose Aldo via decision

Raquel Pennington (16-9) vs Julianna Pena (12-5) – Women’s bantamweight title fightThe co-main event sees the women’s bantamweight title up for grabs, as Raquel Pennington looks to make the first defense of her reign, against the former champion, Julianna Pena.

‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ has been inactive over the past two years because of injury, and since then the title picture has changed drastically.

Pena is hopeful that with a win on Saturday, she will tempt Amanda Nunes out of retirement and they will finally get to settle their trilogy.

However, she must get past ‘Rocky’ first, and the 36-year-old is confident that she can extend her win streak to seven in a row, retaining her title.

It’s fair to say that Pena has the advantage when it comes to the striking in this matchup, no matter how sloppy her technique has looked in prior fights against Nunes, but Pennington has an advantage on the ground.

UFC champ Raquel Pennington is ready to fight Kayla Harrison at #UFC307 on Saturday if Julianna Peña pulls out last minute.

“I prepared for this as both Julianna and Kayla. Julianna does have a history of getting injured.”

(via @MikeBohn) pic.twitter.com/ZJIGr19yMc

— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) September 30, 2024 View Tweet

Although Pennington has been more active than Pena, she hasn’t been entirely that active herself and so that isn’t something I’m going to factor into my prediction.

Despite Pennington’s wrestling not being that effective when it comes to damage, I envision that she will be able to control Pena on the ground and will lay and pray to a decision win.

Prediction: Raquel Pennington via decision

Alex Pereira (11-2) vs Khalil Rountree Jr (14-5-0, 1NC) – Light heavyweight title fightAlex Pereira has often been the UFC’s saviour this year having headlined both UFC 300 and UFC 303, becoming the promotion’s biggest active star.

This time out, he looks to defend his title against Khalil Rountree Jr, who was controversially awarded a title fight over the likes of Magomed Ankalaev.

With there being so much controversy around this matchup, the majority of people are brushing aside ‘The War Horse’s’ chances of winning in this fight, and he is almost being written off before even stepping foot into the Octagon.

Having said that, Rountree Jr is one of the most dangerous fighters at 205lbs, and his explosive Muay Thai style is enough to cause anyone in the division a problem.

Of course, Pereira’s kickboxing past will have him well-prepared for the stylistic puzzle in front of him, but I think the noise around this fight may play into Rountree Jr’s favor. If ‘Poatan’ isn’t able to get the 34-year-old out of there within the first few rounds, I think he may find himself in a firefight.

Rountree Jr is the faster striker in this matchup whereas the Brazilian champion of course packs more power in his strikes.

Both fighters have seemingly admitted that they won’t be shooting for takedowns so it will be a fan-friendly affair, and with Rountree Jr being such a big underdog, it’s worth throwing a dart.

Prediction: Khalil Rountree Jr via TKO

NEW GOALS: Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson reveals what his final goal is for his career ahead of his UFC 307 fight against Joaquin BuckleyRelated Topics