Daniel Cormier: Jamahal Hill as underdog vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. is 'disrespectful'
Daniel Cormier is confused by the betting odds for Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC on ABC 8.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Hill (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) meets Rountree Jr. (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) in Saturday's main event (ABC, ESPN, ESPN+) at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. Hill is coming off back-to-back stoppage losses to Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka, whereas Rountree Jr. most recently suffered a TKO loss to Pereira in their title fight at UFC 307.
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With Hill's championship experience and names on his resume, Cormier doesn't think he should be a slight underdog against Rountree.
"Little detail in this fight that I think a lot of people are overlooking: Khalil Rountree, for as well as he fought against Alex Pereira, that was the only guy he's ever fought inside the top 10," Cormier said on "Good Guy/Bad Guy" with Chael Sonnen. "But he opened as a betting favorite over Jamahal Hill this weekend. Is that disrespectful to Jamahal Hill?"
Cormier says it is. He thinks the public's perception of Hill gets clouded by his actions.
"He (Rountree) took a lot of damage while not being able to go the 25 minutes is very telling – especially when we've seen Jamahal do that," Cormier added. "I think it's disrespectful to Jamahal. Jamahal Hill has done some things social media wise and publicly that make people not like him. The fanbase, they just don't want to like him. Belal Muhammad struggles with that at times. He tries to be more engaging, it doesn't work. People go, 'I can't stand Belal Muhammad.' Same thing with Jamahal. Jamahal had a couple of hiccups, I can't remember exactly what he did last year, but the fanbase just turned on him, and I think it's because of that.
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"Their inability to like him that makes them not truly respect what he's capable of. You can almost be blinded by your dislike for someone, your hatred of someone, and not realize this dude is the real deal. Jamahal Hill can fight, and for him to be an underdog against a guy who's never fought anyone in the top 10 when you've beaten Glover Teixeira, you have fought Jiri Prochazka, you have fought Alex Pereira. You have beaten so many guys in the way that Jamahal Hill has beaten them, to be the underdog, makes no sense to me. And if I was making a favorite in that fight, I would have chosen Jamahal Hill over Khalil Rountree."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC analyst: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree odds are 'disrespectful'
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