SALT LAKE CITY – Joaquin Buckley thinks his UFC 307 end of Stephen Thompson earned him an enormous battle within the welterweight division, and he’s placing a goal on Kamaru Usman’s head.
Buckley (21-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) prolonged his good run since dropped to 170 kilos Saturday when he scored a third-round knockout of former title challenger Thompson at Delta Heart. After the battle, he took the microphone and referred to as out Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC).
“(I’m) 5-0 within the welterweight division proper now,” Buckley informed reporters, together with MMA Junkie, post-fight at UFC 307. “Me placing on a tear, I really feel like on the finish of the day Usman being a former champion will sort of show and cement my identify that I ought to battle for a title subsequent.”
Usman is at present on a three-fight shedding skid and hasn’t competed since a majority determination loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October 2022. The previous titleholder has publicly entertained quite a lot of matchups in current months, and in addition appeared to acknowledge Buckley mentioning his identify with some emojis on X.
For Buckley, 30, he thinks it’s a matchup that can present the world precisely what he’s about within the type of a highlight-reel second.
“I feel I can knock out Usman,” Buckley stated. “Instantly – yeah, instantly. Breaking data.”
As Buckley appears to proceed his surge to the highest of the division, he factors to his efficiency towards “Wonderboy” as a confidence-building second. It was a aggressive battle with 19-19, 18-20 and 20-18 scorecards going into the ultimate spherical.
Buckley took it out of the palms of the judges, although, and he stated that was the product of a well-round assault.
“I knew I simply needed to combine it up the entire time,” Buckley stated. “You’ll be able to’t simply go on the market and be one-dimensional, whether or not that’s simply wrestling or hanging with ‘Wonderboy.’ You’ve bought to combine it up, particularly for those who’re attempting to get him out of there.”
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