Light heavyweight Khalil Rountree (4-0) punched his ticket into The Ultimate Fighter 23 house in impressive fashion.
On Wednesday, the first episode of TUF 23 premiered on Fox Sports 1, showcasing a series of men's light heavyweight and woman's strawweight preliminary bouts that would determine who would be moving into the house and participating in this TUF season.
In one of the preliminary bouts, Rountree was matched up against Floridian Muhammed Dereese (5-0). Rountree found himself in trouble early on in the fight, as Dereese controlled him on the ground and against the cage. Dereese also threatened Rountree with a rear-naked choke towards the end of the first round. But that control wasn't enough to win the fight, as Rountree's striking kicked in the second round, stopping Dereese with a brutal soccer kick to the body.
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