Joaquin Buckley, 26, had a busy 2020. In July he TKO'd Jackie Gosh at LFA 87. His UFC debut in August ended with a TKO loss late in Round 3 to Kevin Holland. However, he bounced back big, winning back to back performance bonuses in October and November, beating Impa Kasanganay and Jordan Wright. The Kasanganay win was a KO of the Year contender.
"New Mansa" fights Alessio Di Chirico at UFC on ABC 1, on January 16 on Fight Island, Abu Dhabi. At the event media day on Wednesday, Buckley vowed to keep the hits coming, against a fighter who has never been knocked out.
“I think I’ve seen his fight before with Zak Cummings before I knew who he was,” said Buckley. “It was kind of a boring fight back and forth, but Zak Cummings ended up giving him a nice shot at the last third round of the match, and it really showed that Alessio’s chin is probably very compromised, and I’m looking to show that in the fight we about to have.”
“I’m thinking of that fast rise for sure. And fighting the right fights at the right time and in 2022, definitely having that gold belt around me.”
“I gotta enjoy it. I gotta have fun with it. Me winning that award is a big deal. It was history-making. That’s gonna go down for a very long time, and people are gonna look back at that and say how amazing that moment was so for me, I just gotta enjoy the moment, but just not bask in it. It happened, move on to the next, and Alessio is definitely going to be on that mark for 2021 ‘Knockout of the Year.”
What do you think UG, how does Saturday night's fight end?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeDwALDxfsI
h/t Farah Hannoun for MMA Junkie