Khalil Rountree Jr could make a switch to Muay Thai, with a legend of the sport revealing how their spars have been going.
‘War Horse’ adores ‘the art of eight limbs’, having spent a lot of time in Thailand, honing his craft to take his striking to the next level.
Therefore, with Brendan Schaub claiming Rountree will never return to his best in MMA after his loss to Alex Pereira, the former world title challenger could at some point consider switching disciplines.
And if he ever did go down that route, the American would have the backing of a multiple-time world champion who’s been blown away by what he’s seen in the gym.
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On April 4, at ONE Fight Night 30, inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, WBC heavyweight Muay Thai King, Lyndon Knowles, will challenge Roman Kryklya for the ONE Championship throne.
In order to prepare himself for the bout, he’s been sparring in the States with Khalil Rountree, who’s really impressed him with his skills.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, the Englishman explained: “I’m out here in Vegas training with Khalil Rountree, it’s been incredible. It’s really helped me out with the sparring because he’s a pro in the small gloves.
“His Muay Thai is really up there. I think he’d do really well at just striking if he crossed over to Muay Thai; I think he’d be incredible.
“I get to watch him hit pads with my brother. It’s really exciting to watch because I didn’t think his Muay Thai would be as good as it was, but good doesn’t even do him justice. He’s amazing.”
Lyndon Knowles had a crazy experience fighting in the Ivory Coast
In his incredible journey, Knowles has fought all over the world, with a trip to the Ivory Coast to defend his WBC belt against Oly La Machine standing out as one of his greatest memories.
From the moment the warrior left the plane, he was being looked after by security, while the public desperately tried to get photos with him.
In the end, he knocked the hometown hero out with a brutal knee.
But as memorable as the event was, what happened after the contest had concluded was even crazier.
Knowles reminisced: “After I won, I’ve got two WBC belts, we’re on the motorway back to the hotel, and we get pulled over by two police with two machine guns in both hands.
“I didn’t really know what was going on. None of us speak a word of French, which is the language they speak over there.
“They were asking for our passports. We got told not to bring our passports anywhere, so we left them at the hotel, and we didn’t have any cash.
“All the boys told me afterwards that they thought maybe we were going to have to go to the police station. That was crazy. I was too happy, not really paying attention, I just thought we were being pulled over.”
