Khalil Rountree JR was stunned in silence when he entered the Arena in which he will fight this for the first time next Saturday.
The coming Saturday, the UFC will land for the first time in Azerbaijan with UFC Baku, headed by a slightly heavyweight fight between former champion Jamahal Hill and old competition Khalil Rountree Jr.
The two were planned to fight each other in UFC Kansas City, but after Hill had retired, the fight was bizarre to the main event in Azerbaijan.
This is the first fight of Rountree JR since his failed title fight against Alex Pereira last October at UFC 307.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Rowree jr is stunned after seeing it for the first time from UFC Baku Arena
Because this is the first event of the Premier promotion ever in Azerbaijan, hunters may not have been sure what they can expect from the Arena in which they fight.
In Rountree Jr's first look of the Baku Crystal Hall, however, he was amazed after he had seen how unique the Arena is compared with arenas in the United States.
“My heart is racing, but it's beautiful, this is incredible, I don't have any words for words now, to be honest. I didn't expect it to be so great,” said Rountree JR in a video on his YouTube channel.
“It's so cool, I don't know, you know how other arenas are higher, this is really wide, so there will be a lot of floor seats. The walk to the cage will be a good walk, it is usually not that far away,” Rountree JR continued.
The capacity of the unique arena is 12,000 sitting, grows to 27,000 with a standing room, making it raw on Saturday evening.
Khalil Rountree JR involved by Jet Lag for UFC Baku Clash
While 'War Horse' Vecht from Las Vegas, he had to make the journey of 11,500 km, which can last until 20 hours in a plane.
And with that, the former title has admitted that he has been quite hit by the Jetlag and hopes that it wears Come Fight Night.
“I tell you, the jet lag is real! It comes in waves, but we are fighting against it, Chris and I fight against it as if we are fighting two men versus a gorilla, the gorilla is the jetlag,” Rountree JR admitted.