Joaquin Buckley made probably the most out of his second at UFC 307.
The at all times outspoken welterweight contender took care of enterprise within the octagon after he delivered a vicious one-punch knockout on Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson halfway by the third spherical. It was a surprising end after Buckley had struggled on the ft in opposition to the artful Thompson, however it solely took one huge shot to vary all the pieces.
The top got here at 2:17 within the third spherical and following his newest win, Buckley then turned his consideration to a former welterweight champion who nonetheless wants a battle proper now.
“We simply blocking out the noise, all of the distractions and going to work,” Buckley mentioned after his win. “We coming for that throne. I really feel like I must battle yet one more earlier than I battle for the belt. I like Belal [Muhammad], I’m going to allow you to deal with that with Shavkat [Rakhmonov]
“[Kamaru] Usman get your ass out right here within the octagon. Everyone needs to see that battle. Let’s go. I’m going to place my 5-0 file in opposition to your [three straight losses] and let’s get it. Let’s see who’s going to win.”
After he was criticized for calling out Conor McGregor following his earlier win, Buckley obtained a complete lot of reward asking for this matchup with Usman out of motion since October 2023 and seeking to get again into title rivalry.
As for the battle itself, it took lower than 30 seconds for Buckley to swoop inside and seize a takedown to place Thompson on the canvas. The sport plan didn’t shock Thompson, who shortly scrambled to get again to his ft however he was nonetheless coping with quite a lot of ahead stress from Buckley.
As Buckley continued to hurry ahead, Thompson acted like a sniper from the surface with a proper hand that began connecting in virtually each alternate. Thompson’s counter hanging was giving Buckley every kind of issues each time he moved ahead with out really setting something up.
Buckley’s finest success got here from making the battle ugly when he obtained in Thompson’s face, threw punches in bunches after which seemed for a takedown. Even when he obtained the battle right down to the canvas, Buckley simply couldn’t maintain Thompson down because the two-time welterweight title challenger constantly broke free to return to his ft.
With 5 minutes remaining, Buckley began launching bombs simply attempting to overwhelm Thompson, however the veteran striker averted taking an excessive amount of harm. However Buckley acknowledged the place he was discovering his opening so he simply threw technical hanging out the door and went headhunting.
That’s when Buckley rushed forward and uncorked the hellacious proper hand that blasted Thompson and despatched him crumbling to the canvas. The referee instantly swooped in to cease the battle with Thompson wobbled badly as he tried to get again to his ft.
It was an ultra-impressive exhibiting for Buckley, who received his fifth straight battle since shifting to welterweight. Maybe Usman finally ends up as his subsequent check with Buckley seeking to put himself into title rivalry sooner quite than later.
