Joaquin Buckley thinks his UFC 307 finish of Stephen Thompson earned him a big fight in the welterweight division, and he’s putting a target on Kamaru Usman’s head.
Joaquin Buckley (21-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) extended his perfect run since dropped to 170 pounds Saturday when he scored a third-round knockout of former title challenger Thompson at Delta Center. After the fight, he took the microphone and called out Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC).
“(I’m) 5-0 in the welterweight division right now,” Joaquin Buckley told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight at UFC 307. “Me putting on a tear, I feel like at the end of the day Usman being a former champion will kind of prove and cement my name that I should fight for a title next.”
Usman is currently on a three-fight losing skid and hasn’t competed since a majority decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October 2022. The former titleholder has publicly entertained a variety of matchups in recent months, and also seemed to acknowledge Buckley mentioning his name with some emojis on X.
For Buckley, 30, he thinks it’s a matchup that will show the world exactly what he’s about in the form of a highlight-reel moment.
“I think I can knock out Usman,” Buckley said. “Immediately – yeah, immediately. Breaking records.”
As Buckley looks to continue his surge to the top of the division, he points to his performance against “Wonderboy” as a confidence-building moment. It was a competitive fight with 19-19, 18-20 and 20-18 scorecards going into the final round.
Buckley took it out of the hands of the judges, though, and he said that was the product of a well-round attack.
“I knew I just had to mix it up the whole time,” Buckley said. “You can’t just go out there and be one-dimensional, whether that’s just wrestling or striking with ‘Wonderboy.’ You’ve got to mix it up, especially if you’re trying to get him out of there.”