Khalil Rountree discusses moment he 'went blind' in Alex Pereira loss at UFC 307

Khalil Rountree couldn’t see out of one eye at a certain point against Alex Pereira.

Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) was badly battered in a Round 4 TKO loss to light heavyweight champion Pereira at UFC 307 in October.

Rountree’s face was a mess, and he suffered a deviated septum which needed a painful procedure. He recently revealed that his vision was also severely compromised during the fight from the damage he took.

“In the moment, I didn’t feel it,” Rountree said on the “JAXXON Podcast.” “For instance, in the fight where this cut happened, I got hit, and boom. I knew I had gotten hit hard because I started to see my vision kind of blur a little bit. But the second one that landed, the one that actually split my eye, in that moment I went blind. But f*ck it: I’m going to keep going.

“I didn’t see anything after that – I saw just light. I didn’t see shadows, I didn’t see anything. It was like if someone put a frosted film. So I can’t see. I’m f*cking blind. But whatever – I’m not going to give up. But the sensation, I didn’t feel anything. The adrenaline was too high, but I realized it was there. My eye was f*cked up, but I’ll deal with it later.”

Rountree stood toe-to-toe with Pereira and found success early by winning Rounds 1 and 2 on all three judges’ scorecards, but “Poatan” was able to break him down eventually for a late finish.