Joaquin Buckley is doing his greatest to maintain his full deal with Stephen Thompson at UFC 307, however some previous beefs hold pulling him in numerous instructions.
Maybe probably the most fascinating encounter was lastly sitting down and hashing out his variations with UFC Corridor of Famer Daniel Cormier after they engaged in a fiery disagreement earlier this yr. The incident stemmed from Cormier criticizing Buckley’s choice to name out Conor McGregor following a win, which led to an unpleasant alternate on social media.
Buckley later mentioned he hoped to fulfill up with Cormier previous to his battle at UFC 307 to settle their variations.
“I simply received accomplished speaking to D.C.” Buckley revealed throughout UFC 307 media day. “That was cool. We was in entrance of the digicam, I assumed we was simply going to be within the room by ourselves for a bit simply to have the ability to speak like males.
“However it’s what it’s, we had a superb dialog. interview. Individuals will be capable of see it. That’s what I assumed it was going to be, off digicam and simply man to man, I feel that’s the dialog I’d quite have, I’d be extra snug with if something.”
At this time I sit down with Joaquim Buckley as you already know he and I had some points a few name out few months in the past. At this time we sat down and mentioned that and a lot extra. We additionally talked his battle this weekend vs Wonderboy! However as males we would have liked to speak and I consider we did that. Make… pic.twitter.com/G1Sras9nkx
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 2, 2024
Buckley additionally responded to former opponent Kevin Holland, who mentioned on Wednesday that he selected a distinct location to remain exterior of the UFC fighter lodge to keep away from a possible run-in between them. Holland scored a TKO win over Buckley once they met again in 2020 however the rivalry apparently by no means ended afterwards.
For his half, Buckley says he has no points with Holland and his grand plan didn’t actually work anyhow — as a result of he’s not even staying on the fighter lodge.
“I don’t have a difficulty with Kevin Holland,” Buckley mentioned. “I’m right here to battle [Stephen Thompson] and get my paycheck. But when Kevin desires any beef or any issues, he’s simply going to have to tug up on me. That’s all.”
With regards to his precise battle on Saturday, Buckley informed MMA Preventing previous to UFC 307 that he had no problem with Thompson exterior of making an attempt to additional his personal profession by beating the two-time UFC title challenger.
Simply after the battle was introduced, Buckley joked that he was going to ship “Wonderboy” to Karate Fight however that wasn’t a sly strategy to say he’s making an attempt to finish Thompson’s profession.
As a substitute, Buckley defined that he desires to dominate Thompson so completely once they meet that the 41-year-old veteran gained’t have any selection however to acknowledge his days of chasing a UFC title are over.
“It’s not about stopping his profession, it’s about giving him a distinct profession path,” Buckley mentioned. “I do know that after I beat him and the way I beat him and the style [I beat him], he’s nonetheless in his thoughts desires to change into a UFC champion — as soon as I beat him, he is aware of that’s over.
“He don’t wish to hold combating making an attempt to show himself, particularly combating the youthful bucks. I feel he’s actually going to face the actual fact and face the truth that after I beat him, this dream that I’ve received, I would as nicely let that go and change into a [Karate Combat] champion. As a result of I feel he can do this. I feel he can change into a champion in Karate Fight.”
