Daniel Cormier: Jamahal Hill as underdog vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. is 'disrespectful'
Daniel Cormier is confused by the betting odds for Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC on ABC 8.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Hill (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) meets Rountree Jr. (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) in Saturday's main event (ABC, ESPN, ESPN+) at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. Hill is coming off back-to-back stoppage losses to Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka, whereas Rountree Jr. most recently suffered a TKO loss to Pereira in their title fight at UFC 307.
Advertisement
With Hill's championship experience and names on his resume, Cormier doesn't think he should be a slight underdog against Rountree.
"Little detail in this fight that I think a lot of people are overlooking: Khalil Rountree, for as well as he fought against Alex Pereira, that was the only guy he's ever fought inside the top 10," Cormier said on "Good Guy/Bad Guy" with Chael Sonnen. "But he opened as a betting favorite over Jamahal Hill this weekend. Is that disrespectful to Jamahal Hill?"
Cormier says it is. He thinks the public's perception of Hill gets clouded by his actions.
"He (Rountree) took a lot of damage while not being able to go the 25 minutes is very telling – especially when we've seen Jamahal do that," Cormier added. "I think it's disrespectful to Jamahal. Jamahal Hill has done some things social media wise and publicly that make people not like him. The fanbase, they just don't want to like him. Belal Muhammad struggles with that at times. He tries to be more engaging, it doesn't work. People go, 'I can't stand Belal Muhammad.' Same thing with Jamahal. Jamahal had a couple of hiccups, I can't remember exactly what he did last year, but the fanbase just turned on him, and I think it's because of that.
Advertisement
"Their inability to like him that makes them not truly respect what he's capable of. You can almost be blinded by your dislike for someone, your hatred of someone, and not realize this dude is the real deal. Jamahal Hill can fight, and for him to be an underdog against a guy who's never fought anyone in the top 10 when you've beaten Glover Teixeira, you have fought Jiri Prochazka, you have fought Alex Pereira. You have beaten so many guys in the way that Jamahal Hill has beaten them, to be the underdog, makes no sense to me. And if I was making a favorite in that fight, I would have chosen Jamahal Hill over Khalil Rountree."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree odds are 'disrespectful'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Inter 2-1 Urawa
INTER 1-1 URAWA RED DIAMONDS | LIVE Goalscorers: 11' Watanabe (U), 78' Lautaro (I) INTER (3-4-2-1): 1 Sommer; 36 Darmian, 6 De Vrij, 30 Carlos Augusto; 11 Luis Henrique (8 Sucic 87'), 23 Barella, 21 Asllani (45 Carboni 72'), 32 Dimarco ( 95 Bastoni 72'); 70 S. Esposito (94 F. Esposito 46'), 59 Zalewski (22 Mkhitaryan 46'); 10 Lautaro. Substitutes: 12 Di Gennaro, 13 J. Martinez, 40 Calligaris, 15 Acerbi, 42 Palacios, 48 Re Cecconi, 49 De Pieri, 52 Berenbruch, 58 Cocchi. Head Coach: Cristian Chivu. Advertisement URAWA RED DIAMONDS (4-2-3-1): 1 Nishikawa; 4 Ishihara, 3 Danilo Boza, 5 Høibråten, 88 Naganuma (26 Ogiwara 87'); 11 Gustafson (9 Haraguchi 87'), 25 Yasui; 77 Kaneko (14 Sekine 66'), 8 Matheus Savio (6 Matsumoto 79'), 13 Watanabe; 24 Matsuo (12 Thiago Santana 79'). Substitutes: 16 Niekawa, 31 Yoshida, 10 Nakajima, 17 Komori, 18 Takahashi, 21 Okubo, 28 Nemoto, 35 Inoue, 39 Hayakawa, 41 Nitta. Head Coach: Maciej Skorza. Booked: Nishikawa (U), Sekine (U), Thiago Santana (U) Stoppage time: 2' One booking away from suspension: Asllani, Barella, Lautaro (I); Gustafson, Watanabe (U) Suspended: - Referee: Beida (MTN) Assistants: Santos (ANG) - Yiembe (KEN) Fourth official: Kawana-Waugh (NZL) VAR: El Fariq (MAR) AVAR: Soto (VEN) SVAR: Dankert (GER) LIVE UPDATES SECOND HALF All over: Inter come from behind to beat Urawa! 90+2' GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL! Carboni pounces on the loose ball and fires home in stoppage time! We lead! 90+1' Mkhitaryan plays in a cross for Esposito, who heads into Nishikawa's arms. 83' Barella heads narrowly off target. 80' Esposito nods wide. Inter are now pushing for a winner! 78' GOOOOAAAAALLLLLL! Lautaro with a brilliant overhead kick to level the match! 1-1! 71' A huge chance for Mkhitaryan, who shoots wide from inside the box. 70' Watanabe fires over on the counter for Urawa. 65' A F. Esposito header from a Dimarco corner lands on the roof of the net. 60' Asllani has another go from outside the box: the ball flies narrowly over. 58' Esposito with an acrobatic effort from a Dimarco cross: off target. 56' Dimarco volleys a Barella cross over the bar. 54' Asllani shoots wide with his right foot. 46' The second half kicks off. Two changes at the break: Francesco Pio Esposito and Mkhitaryan are on for Sebastiano Esposito and Zalewski. FIRST HALF 45+2' The first half comes to an end. 45' Two minutes added on. 42' After a lull in the game, Carlos gets his cross wrong following some good build-up play by Inter. 24' Zalewski makes a threatening run forward but fails to control the ball, allowing the Urawa defence to clear. 19' CLOSE! Lautaro heads an Asllani cross against the bar! 15' A scramble ensues in the Urawa box, with Carlos failing to direct a header on target. Inter want to respond immediately. 11' GOAL. Kaneko sets up Watanabe to open the scoring for the Japanese side. 2' Luis Henrique can't quite get on the end of Zalewski's dangerous ball across the six-yard box. 1' Away we go: Urawa get the ball rolling! Everything is ready at Lumen Field in Seattle for Inter vs. Urawa Red Diamonds. GRUPPO E: GARE E CLASSIFICA 1° GIORNATA GRUPPO E River Plate - Urawa Red Diamonds 3-1 (12' Colidio (R), 48' Driussi (R), 58' rig. Matsuo (U), 73' Meza (R)). Advertisement Monterrey - INTER 1-1 (25' S. Ramos (M), 42' Lautaro (I)). 2° GIORNATA GRUPPO E 21 giugno, ore 12:00 (locali, 21:00 in Italia) INTER - Urawa Red Diamonds - Lumen Field, Seattle 21 giugno, ore 18:00 (locali, 03:00 del 22 giugno in Italia) River Plate - Monterrey - Rose Bowl, Los Angeles 3° GIORNATA GRUPPO E 25 giugno, ore 18:00 (locali, 03:00 del 26 giugno in Italia) INTER - River Plate - Lumen Field, Seattle 25 giugno, ore 18:00 (locali, 03:00 del 26 giugno in Italia) Urawa Red Diamonds - Monterrey - Rose Bowl, Los Angeles CLASSIFICA River Plate 3 CF Monterrey 1 Inter 1 Urawa Red Diamonds 0 INTER VS. URAWA RED DIAMONDS, WHERE TO WATCH ON TV Inter vs. Urawa Red Diamonds, on Matchday 2 of Group E of the 2025 Club World Cup, will be streamed live on DAZN. All 63 matches will be streamed live and for free on DAZN, thanks to an exclusive agreement with FIFA. Every fan can follow Inter and the excitement of the Club World Cup wherever you are, in many languages, and on every device: smart TV, smartphone, tablet or console. Advertisement The match between Inter and Urawa Red Diamonds will also be live on Mediaset channels (Canale 5). On Infinity, you can watch it on the app or on REFEREE The referee of Inter vs. Urawa Red Diamonds, on Matchday 2 of Group E of the 2025 Club World Cup, will be the Mauritian Dahane Beida. His assistants will be Jerson Santos (Angola) and Stephen Yiembe (Kenya), with the New-Zealander Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh as fourth official. Referee: Beida (MTN) Assistants: Santos (ANG) - Yiembe (KEN) Fourth Official: Kawana-Waugh (NZL) VAR: El Fariq (MAR) AVAR: Soto (VEN) SVAR: Dankert (GER)
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
UFC on ABC 8 video: Nazim Sadykhov elates Baku crowd with bloody KO of Nikolas Motta
Nazim Sadykhov brought a 13-fight decision streak in the UFC cage to a brutal end at UFC on ABC 8 when he knocked out Nikolas Motta. Azerbaijan's Sadykhov (11-1-1 MMA, 4-0-1 UFC) sent the Baku crowd into a frenzy when, after a back-and-forth war for nearly two rounds, he blasted and dropped a bloodied Motta (15-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC) for the TKO finish at the 4:17 mark of Round 2 at Baku Crystal Hall. Advertisement Check out the replay of the final sequence below (via X): After the fight, an elated Sadykhov, who remained unbeaten in his UFC career, sent a passionate message to his fans. "You're going to have to kill me if you want to put me away in Baku, Azerbaijan," Sadykhov said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. Between UFC on ESPN 69 in Atlanta a week ago and Saturday's event in Baku, the UFC saw 13 straight decision results until Sadykhov brought that dubious streak to an end. Up-to-the-minute UFC Baku results: This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Baku video: Nazim Sadykhov elates crowd with KO of Nikolas Motta
USA Today
12 minutes ago
- USA Today
UFC on ABC 8 results: Rafael Fiziev snaps three-fight skid vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
Rafael Fiziev was in desperate need of a victory at UFC on ABC 8, and he got the job done against Ignacio Bahamondes to snap a three-fight skid. Although his previous defeats came to the elite in Justin Gaethje twice and Mateusz Gamrot, it was an important moment for Fiziev (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC), who mixed up his striking and grappling well over three rounds against Bahamondes (17-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) for the unanimous decision win with three 30-27 scorecards in the lightweight contest at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. The opening round was somewhat tentative, with Fiziev and Bahamondes both working to find their range and score something of significance. There were many kicks exchanged, and in between them some clean punches landed but nothing that appeared to hurt either athlete. Bahamondes changed course to start the second round by shooting for an early takedown that was shut down by Fiziev. Bahamondes tried to push Fiziev into the cage but it was largely ineffective, but it opened up more striking opportunities when they got back to range. With a little more than a minute remaining Fiziev turned the tide and got two takedowns then landed a hard punch late that sent Bahamondes to his backside. With a chance to secure the win in the final round, Fiziev picked up his pace and started to land with more consistency. Bahamondes obliged to his desired range and more landed straight punches, his most effective blow of the fight, but Fiziev took them all well. Fiziev closed the fight strong with a final takedown and some ferocious punches on the mat. After getting his hand raised for the first time since July 2022, Fiziev expressed his desire to climb back up toward the top of the lightweight rankings. "I'm happy to represent my homeland here," Fiziev said through an interpreter in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. "I don't know (who is next). I'm a rocket man. You can send me to the moon." Up-to-the-minute UFC on ABC 8 results:
