‘Hammers for Hands’: Khalil Rountree coach dissects Alex Pereira’s ‘Ugly’ but lethal striking

Ahead of this weekend’s title fight at UFC 307, Khalil Rountree’s head coach has labelled Alex Pereira’s striking as “ugly” — but nevertheless, lethal in a potential warning to his own student.

Headlining this weekend’s return to Salt Lake City, Utah — undisputed light heavyweight champion, Pereira will look to defend his 205lbs title for the third time this year alone, following prior devastating knockouts of both Jiri Prochazka and former champion, Jamahal Hill.

As for Rountree, the Ultimate Fighter finalist enters his title fight and pay-per-view headliner first this weekend at the Delta Center, attempting to upset the apple cart with a win over the Sao Paulo striker, and extend his impressive winning run to six straight fights.

Alex Pereira’s striking described as “ugly” but lethal nonetheless ahead of UFC 307

And ahead of the pairing, coach, John Wood has made the bold claim how Pereira — who has exclusively used his striking during his title runs in both divisions, will likely wrestle at UFC 307, however, admitted that the knockout phenom has genuine “hammers for hands”.

“One, the guy’s (Alex Pereira) got hammers for hands,” John Wood told Inside Fighting. “Two, I think he lulls people into that like, you know, ‘Hey, I’m making mistakes’, and you know, ‘Come and get me.’ And then, boop. You’re waking up on the canvas. No matter sometimes how ugly things might look or maybe unconventional but unconventional works just as well as conventional, if you know what you’re doing.”

“That’s my job to make sure that we don’t fall into any of those traps,” Wood explained. “You’re going to see this, and his hands are down and he’s leading with his face. He wants to get you, you know, no, there’s reason he’s doing that.”