Khalil Rountree Jr. has reacted to Jamahal Hill’s explanation regarding his viral yawn after Alex Pereira's win at UFC 307. The incident occurred after Pereira’s fourth-round TKO victory over Rountree Jr., where Hill, in attendance, was seen pretending to yawn on camera.
Hill's reaction quickly circulated online, with fans interpreting it as disrespectful. 'Sweet Dreams' later discussed his response, stating that although he found the fight entertaining and praised Pereira for his strategic adjustments, he wasn’t particularly impressed.
Rountree Jr., responding to Hill's comments in an interview with MMA Junkie, admitted he was initially confused by the yawn:
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“I saw it after the fight, online… And it's nice to hear the clarification because based off the crowd response and everything that I've seen and other articles and posts that I've seen uh, most majority of people, you know, seem to think that it was an entertaining fight. So I was a bit confused to see why, you know, maybe he thought it was boring, or you know, worth a yawn."
However, Rountree Jr. acknowledged that not everyone would share the same opinion:
"Not everyone's going to think the same, not everyone's going to be entertained.”
Check out Khalil Rountree Jr.'s comments below (19:41):
Khalil Rountree Jr. discusses Conor McGregor reaching out to him after UFC 307 loss
Khalil Rountree Jr. revealed that Conor McGregor contacted him following his recent TKO loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 307. Despite getting finished in the fourth round of a back-and-forth barnburner, Rountree Jr. received praise for his performance, catching the attention of the former two-division champion.
During a recent appearance on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo, Rountree Jr. shared that McGregor sent him encouraging messages shortly after the fight:
"A couple of days after the fight, I got some messages from Conor and it was really cool to get some messages from him, but one thing that he pointed out was that I could have put more pressure."
Check out Khalil Rountree Jr.'s comments below (6:11):