Participating in a main event for the first time in his entire career, Joaquin Bukley believes he has the chance to 'steal' the show this Saturday (14), at UFC Tampa . Although Shavkat Rakhmonov earned the right to fight for the welterweight belt (up to 77,1 kg) by beating Ian Garry last weekend, the American believes he can jump the queue in case of a viral knockout against Colby Covington.
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“I feel like I’m going to get past Shavkat… He’s also injury-prone, I feel like he’s always getting hurt or something’s always wrong with him – so he might not even show up for the fight. It could be me and Belal next year. The performance has to speak first. Not just winning by split decision, but if I go out there and get the knockout, I’ll get my belt,” said the fighter during the media day of the last event of 2024.
Buckley also criticized the fight between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry , the co-main event of UFC 310 , which secured a title shot for the Kazakh fighter, who won by unanimous decision. According to him, the performance of both athletes left much to be desired.
“You’ve got two undefeated guys. I expected one of them to go out there and really give it their all, not just stay undefeated but take a real 0 from someone. Especially when you have that title shot on the line, you’ve got to go out there and perform and neither of them did,” he said.
Shavkat Rakhmonov in victory at UFC 310 (Photo: Instagram)
Buckley is used to generating big knockouts
Joaquin Bluckley, who is ranked ninth in the category, has had some great moments in his professional career. The American caught the attention of the MMA world when he knocked out Impa Kasanganay (former PFL champion) with a spinning kick in 2021, which earned him the Knockout of the Year award from the World MMA Awards.
It gets better with every single watch
We will never forget this KO from @Newmansa94 ! #UFCTampa pic.twitter.com/lplMl2wG27
— UFC (@ufc) December 9, 2024
He is currently on a five-fight winning streak, the most recent being a knockout victory against Stephen Thompson at UFC 307 in October of this year.
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