Behind the warrior: Who is Khalil Rountree? Delving into the UFC berserker’s personal life and relationships

Khalil Rountree is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the light heavyweight division of the UFC. As of December 2023, Rountree is the No.11 ranked fighter in the division.

Rountree prefers to keep his personal life out of the limelight and rarely shares the details of his personal life on social media platforms. The 33-year-old had a tough childhood as his father was shot dead when Khalil was just two years old. He was an overweight young adult who started training MMA to shed those extra pounds and eventually took it up as a profession.

The Las Vegas native has enjoyed a fairly stable relationship in adulthood. He has been in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend Mia Kang. She is a fashion model and television host by profession. Additionally, the 34-year-old also competes in Muay Thai.

Rountree and Kang have openly embraced their relationship since 2020 but the exact timeline of their relationship is not known. The couple got engaged in April 2022 but chose to keep the engagement private. Kang revealed the news through an Instagram post in December 2022.

See the post below:

Khalil and Mia rarely share pictures of each other on their social media accounts. But when they do, the couple showers praise on each other for their commitment to the craft. Judging by the latest social media posts on Mia Kang’s Instagram account, it appears that the couple has been training together in the Jiu-jitsu gym.

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Khalil Rountree's journey to becoming a professional MMA fighter

Khalil Rountree’s parents had laid out a solid plan for their lives after he was born. However, his father’s early demise left a major void in Khalil’s life while growing up. While explaining his journey to becoming a UFC fighter, Rountree shed light on his life in high school and the mental health issues he faced at the time. He said:

“I was just way too shy and just internally scarred from being bullied. And towards the end of my school, I started smoking and just eating unhealthily. I got myself up to 305 lbs at 19 years old! That drove my mental health down too becuase I didn’t feel good about myself that’s when I started experimenting with drinking…”

A heart attack scare changed Khalil Rountree’s mindset when he was 19 years old. This is when he discovered mixed martial arts and started training to engrain discipline in his life.

Watch Khalil Rountree narrate the story of his transformation in the video below:

The coaches at Syndicate MMA worked hard with Khalil Rountree and shaped him into the world-class MMA fighter that we know him as.