Issue 221

September 2025

Before championship belts were on the line, the world's greatest fighters were locked in their own battles. Ray Klerck delves into the gritty and inspiring MMA origin stories that forged these warriors into the legends they are today.

KHALIL ROUNTREE JR. – HAUNTED BY LOSS

Khalil Rountree was born in Los Angeles on February 26, 1990. When he was just two years old, his father, Roderick ‘Khalil’ Rountree, was gunned down during what reports say was an attempted robbery while working as a tour manager for Boyz II Men. Since his mother had shielded him from the whole truth early on, Rountree believed for many years that his dad had died thanks to illness. Only later did he learn the morbid details, and it left him grappling with anger, confusion, identity, and loss. With no father figure in his life, Rountree leaned on his mother and older brother, Donovon, who would later play a pivotal role in guiding him in a positive direction. It was something he needed because growing up, Khalil was different. He was quiet, overweight, and often out of step with his peers. By his teens, he was in a downward spiral. He started smoking, drinking, and even taking prescription medications just to numb emotional pain. On The Joe Rogan Experience, he painted a brutal picture of his habits that contributed to the spiral. 

“So after high school, I started touring. We were eating fast food every single day. Three times a day, never drink water, soda only. Smoking like a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. By 19, I got up to 305 pounds.” 

He later confessed that things were heading in a downward spiral.  

“I started smoking cigarettes, I picked up drinking, and on top of alcohol, pain medication. My habits were only making things worse. I felt like my heart was going to stop one night when I was falling asleep. Just felt things internally, especially in my chest area that I'd never felt before. I knew that something had to change.” 

One night, while collapsing under the heaviness of his own life, he stepped on a scale. It read 305lb. He sensed something was wrong internally, which he believed was a heart issue. To help fix it, his brother nudged him into training. They made a pact: to do it together. That’s when things started to tilt, and they joined Wand Fight Team. Exhausted, breathing hard, but for the first time in a long while, something inside him flickered. In less than a year, he shed over 100 pounds, ditched the cancer sticks, cut fast food and soda, and began to see for the first time a version of himself that could survive. By 2011, after roughly a year of training, he dipped his toes into amateur MMA. The kid who once believed he might die in his sleep had discovered a lifeline that led to six straight amateur wins and a career in a sport that he says saved his life. 

ALEXANDER VOLKOV – THE MOSCOW TECHNICIAN

Alexander Yevgenievich Volkov was born on October 24, 1988, in Moscow, Russia, then part of the Soviet Union. Raised by his parents, Yevgeny and Irina Volkov, he grew up in the turbulent aftermath of the USSR's collapse. His father, a former amateur basketball player, passed on his tall genetics, setting a path for Alexander that almost seemed predestined for the heights of the basketball court. As a teenager, Volkov was exceptionally tall but also lanky, making him a potential target for challenges. Fortunately, his father recognized the crossroads his son was at and gave him a piece of advice that would alter the course of his life. Volkov recalled the moment in an interview with Match TV. 

"My father told me, 'Son, with your height, you have two paths. Either you become very strong, or you will be beaten your whole life.' There was no third option. At that moment, I chose to become strong." 

This decision led him away from basketball and into the disciplined world of martial arts. By the age of nine, Volkov had already earned his first karate belt, later competing in Ashihara Karate before embracing the punishing Kyokushin, a notoriously full-contact style that laid the foundation for striking and resilience. Volkov also pursued higher education, enrolling in the prestigious Bauman Moscow State Technical University, one of Russia's top engineering schools. This dual path of intense physical training and complex problem-solving forged a uniquely analytical and methodical fighting style. Volkov made his professional MMA debut in April 2009, quickly making a name for himself in Russia’s burgeoning fight scene. He rose through the ranks of M-1 Global, one of Eastern Europe's premier promotions, capturing their Heavyweight Championship and defending it successfully. His success earned him a contract with Bellator MMA in the United States. In 2012, at just 24 years old, he won the Bellator Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament and claimed the promotion's vacant heavyweight title. Although he would later lose the belt, his journey proved that he was more than a regional champion. He was a world-class talent, eventually earning the call from the UFC in 2016. From the basketball courts of Moscow to the world’s biggest cages, Alexander Volkov proved that a fighter’s greatest weapon isn’t just strength, but the calculated mind that wields it.

CIRYL GANE – THE GOOD KID WITH A STRIKER’S SOUL

Ciryl Romain Jacky Gane was born on April 12, 1990, in La Roche-sur-Yon, France. By all accounts, his upbringing was modest but steady. His father, Romain, drove buses for a living but once played football in the Division d’Honneur, France’s sixth tier, while his mother, Maryse, worked in the garment industry. Growing up, Ciryl was a tall and athletic kid who claimed to have tried his hand at everything from football to basketball, and even a little boxing in his teens. Speaking to Morning Kombat, it was clear that his soon-to-be 6-foot-5 frame was built for athletic prowess from an early age. 

“This is a little bit strange, but in every sport [I played], I was confident.  Maybe it’s because I am comfortable with my body.” 

That comfort made him a natural athlete, but he wasn’t a lifer in any one game. His interests drifted, which is possibly the best place to be as an MMA athlete, but he never committed to any discipline. 

“As soon as I stopped having fun, I moved on to something else.” 

After finishing high school, Gane moved to Paris for a work-study program and sold furniture by day. Combat sports were very far from his radar until a former classmate introduced him to Muay Thai when he was in his mid-20s. He joined a small gym and discovered all the fun he had been missing, and uncovered a talent that put him on a collision course with the fight world.

Within just a few years, Gane rose through France’s Muay Thai ranks. He claimed the AFMT national heavyweight title, showing off footwork and finesse that belied his size. His nickname, Bon Gamin (‘The Good Kid’), stuck, not just for his clean-cut demeanour but for the way he carried himself in and out of the ring.

By 2018, Gane made the jump into MMA under the Canadian promotion TKO. In his debut, he fought for the vacant heavyweight belt and won via first-round submission, proving he wasn’t just a striker. He defended the title twice, sharpening his grappling and pacing skills along the way, and built an undefeated record that caught the UFC’s attention. By the time he walked into the Octagon for the first time in 2019, Gane carried an unusual calm for someone so new. He credited it to how he had always been, even as a boy: unfazed, moving on if the fun disappeared, never letting pressure weigh him down. That attitude, combined with the frame of a heavyweight, made him stand out immediately. For Ciryl Gane, the fight never started with blood or bruises. It started with keeping his cool, trusting his body, and proving that even the latecomers can rise faster than anyone expects.