Skip to main content
Joaquin Buckley reacts after his TKO victory against Vicente Luque in a welterweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at Boardwalk Hall Arena on March 30, 2024 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Athletes

Joaquin Buckley Is Back Home

Welterweight Joaquin Buckley Looks To Break Into The Top 10 By Defeating Stephen Thompson At UFC 307

Back at home and riding a four-fight win streak, Joaquin Buckley has emerged as a real threat in the welterweight division after beginning his career at middleweight. The weight change has brought the best out of Buckley, and ahead of maybe his toughest challenge yet, he is back where it all started. 

When he arrived to the UFC in 2020, Buckley described it as “Grind mode,” and moved to Michigan from St Louis, Missouri, to focus on training at Murcielago MMA. 

“I learned a lot from that team and from that camp. Everything I learned there, I can just kind of take it back home and kind of reproduce and just start new.” 

Order UFC 307: Pereira vs Rountree Jr. 

After finishing Vicente Luque at the end of March in Atlantic City, Buckley immediately started calling for a quick turnaround, wanting to get on UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Nascimento because it was in his home city of St louis. Buckley’s wish was granted, and he capitalized in a big way, earning a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Nursulton Ruziboev.

Joaquin Buckley takes down Nursulton Ruziboev of Uzbekistan in a welterweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Enterprise Center on May 11, 2024 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)
Joaquin Buckley takes down Nursulton Ruziboev of Uzbekistan in a welterweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Enterprise Center on May 11, 2024 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)

While being back home during the lead-up, Buckley recognized what’s most important for him and doesn’t want to miss any more important moments with his family. 

“I don’t need to be missing these moments,” Buckley said. “It’s more important than anything else in the world. Even if I was to win a world title, but if I have don’t memories of my kids, they’ll feel like daddy was never there. He was more worried about his dream than focused on us, I don’t want that.” 

How To Watch UFC 307 In Your Country

The fight against Ruziboev brought Buckley back to his roots and now the work he does inside the Octagon means even more. 

“I’ve got a family now; I got two babies, so everything I do is for them,” Buckley said. “Even though I sacrificed that time to go to Michigan and do my training, I had to head back home and do more than just fight. This training camp was a little bit more personal to me.” 

Full Fight | Joaquin Buckley vs Nursulton Ruziboev
fight pass logo
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!

Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!

This video is not available in your country

There was a problem while loading content. Please try again.

Full Fight | Joaquin Buckley vs Nursulton Ruziboev
/

Relocating back home permanently after fighting Ruziboev did come with some challenges, at least while preparing for a fight at the highest level. Buckley established a new training schedule, while being more available for his family.

“I still got to make sure to put in the same type of quality of work that I was doing in Michigan,” Buckley said. “But on top of that, still apply the time to be a father and be a partner to my girl. For this one, with all the difficulties that I was dealing with and having to put all those things together, I feel like it prepared me for ‘Wonderboy,’ who is a puzzle.”

A puzzle is a great way to describe Stephen Thompson, who is 17-7-1 and No. 9 in the welterweight division. A karate-style fighter, “Wonderboy” excels when fighting at long range and often forces his opponents to be reactive. 

MORE UFC 307: Fight By Fight Preview

Buckley has powerful hands, specifically at short range, great kicks and reliable takedown defense, making him an extremely well-rounded fighter. 

“My thing was, let me focus on me and sharpen everything that I have,” Buckley said. “Because, at the end of the day, even though it’s hard to find somebody that emulates Wonderboy, it’s hard to find somebody that does what I do.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

He’s going for five in a row at UFC 307 and has the chance to make some noise at 170 pounds. 

“I feel like my skillset is greater than a lot of guys in the Top 10 or Top Five, and I really get to pretty much expose that and show that to the world. And I haven’t had a difficult fight at 170 yet and I don’t plan to anytime soon.” 

UFC 307: Pereira vs Rountree Jr., took place live from Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 5, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!