John Wood gives update on Khalil Rountree Jr. injury, pullout from Magomed Ankalaev fight at UFC Abu Dhabi

Khalil Rountree Jr. has long been hailed as one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC light heavyweight division.

The American striking savant was booked to make his highly anticipated return to the octagon against former UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev. They were to headline UFC Abu Dhabi on July 25. 

Unfortunately, Rountree Jr. withdrew from the fight just a few days before the event, and he was replaced by Bogdan Guskov, who'll take on Ankalaev in the UFC Abu Dhabi headliner. 

Rountree Jr.'s head coach, John Wood, has now provided fight fans with an insight into his longtime pupil's injury-induced pullout. 

John Wood suggests he intervened to advise Khalil Rountree Jr. to withdraw from UFC Abu Dhabi fight; injury won't keep him out for long

During a conversation with Jake Noecker of Home of Fight, John Wood suggested that Khalil Rountree Jr.'s undisclosed injury wouldn't keep him on the sidelines for too long. 

Wood asserted, however, that he had advised Rountree Jr. to pull out of the UFC Abu Dhabi matchup against Magomed Ankalaev, given the magnitude of the fight and its potential title implications. 

Wood stated, "I don't think it's going to be that serious. Fortunately, we kind of, I think, escaped any kind of surgical stuff. But for sure, it was a hindrance in camp, to where it got to a point to where -- couldn't really do much. And in a fight that big, you know, those are the decisions that -- it's s*cks." 

Noting how Rountree Jr. tried to salvage the matchup by expressing his willingness to compete despite being injured, Wood added: 

"And he didn't even really, actually want to -- he was gonna do it. He was full on, and had the conversations like, 'I'm going to bite down and throw.' I kind of made the decision, you know, like, 'No, dude. This is too big of an opportunity, too big of a situation.'" 

Wood indicated that Rountree Jr. was set to fight the top contender in Ankalaev, which might have as well been akin to fighting for the light heavyweight title. 

John Wood believes that Khalil Rountree Jr.'s injury would've left him badly compromised at UFC Abu Dhabi

John Wood indicated that almost every fighter competes with an injury of some sort, but there are certain injuries whose nature and intensity drastically compromise a fighter.

He implied that in such situations, the fighter knows that they probably have a round or two to win before the injury completely shuts them out of the fight. Wood added, "So we sat down; had a talk. He (Khalil Rountree Jr.) was devastated." 

The Syndicate MMA founder and head coach pointed out that it's the very first time that Rountree Jr. had withdrawn from a scheduled fight, as well as his first time intervening to pull him out of a matchup.

He hinted that it's because he'd observed other fighters be adversely affected while fighting with injuries that severely compromised them. 

As for Rountree Jr., his injury pullout is being deemed by some as a significant setback, as it's further delayed his comeback. "The War Horse" hasn't competed since suffering a KO defeat against Jiri Prochazka last October. 

Watch John Wood discuss Khalil Rountree Jr.'s injury withdrawal and more below (*comments at the 8:30-minute mark of the video):