Ask me why there is almost a 2-1 favorite in this fight. The answer is, I have no idea. This is a very close fight. Sure Jiri is former world champion, but he has also been KOd twice in the last two years and Khalil showed us in his loss to Alex, how insanely tough he can be. I'm going to pick Jiri here because I think his relentless forward pressure may be tricky for Khalil to deal with and in theory, he can get takedowns, but this is a very close fight and the idea that Jiri runs away with this is just flat wrong.

Jiri Prochazka

Jiri Prochazka is the former Light Heavyweight champion of the world. He is incredibly fun to watch fight and always brings the fight. He is a dangerous striker with pretty much all of his 31 wins coming by stoppage. He has plenty of cardio, plenty of power, and outside of his fights with Alex, plenty of chin. The knock on Jiri is how hittable he is. He is hit with almost 6 significant strikes per minute which is an insanely high number. He trusts his chin so he has no issues standing in the pocket and taking one to give one. He is coming off the finish win over Jamahal Hill where he landed almost 100 significant strikes and attempted 0 takedowns.

Khalil Rountree

Khalil Rountree is a Muay Thai striker who has a ton of power and is very fast. Khalil can knock anyone out on any day as long as he is the one dictating the pace and pressure. He fights very well going forward but can struggle when backing up. He doesn't have much offensive wrestling with exactly 0 takedowns in 17 fights but his takedown defense is ok at 58%. He is coming off the win over Jamahal Hill were he put the leg kicks out early and stayed cautious.