Comedian and actor Ronny Chieng is a BJJ blue belt and he recently decided to put his grappling to the test by sparring with UFC veteran Khalil Rountree. Chieng has been practicing the sport for several years now and like many celebrity BJJ practitioners, he’s had the chance to practice with some truly elite talent. That’s exactly what Rountree is as well, even though he’s known as more of a striker in his professional MMA career. Rountree has still spent years working on his grappling, even though he’s never shot for a takedown and will always look to win the fight on the feet rather than going to the ground.
Rountree is still obviously an incredible athlete in general and he’s spent plenty of time working with some of the best grapplers in the world, so he’s not going to be an easy roll for anyone. Rountree has had plenty of ups and downs throughout his professional MMA career but since he first made his debut in 2014, he’s been steadily building his way to the top. He went 4-0 on the regional MMA circuit before making a run at The Ultimate Fighter and although he didn’t win the tournament, he still drew enough attention to warrant a UFC contract.
Since then he’s improved his record to 13-6 (1) and was most recently seen challenging Alex Pereira for the light-heavyweight title at UFC 307. While Khalil Rountree has been busy proving himself to be one of the best MMA fighters around, Ronny Chieng has been busy doing in the same in the world of comedy. Chieng won several comedy awards during the beginning of his career and has been a correspondent on The Daily Show since 2015, becoming an important part of the cast in that time. He’s been able to move into other TV and film roles since then, establishing himself as an actor while also working his way up the BJJ belt ranks.
Ronny Chieng shared the footage of his grappling session with UFC veteran Khalil Rountree in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
