The co-main event for UFC St. Louis features the hometown Joaquin Buckley taking on Uzbekistan’s Nursulton Ruziboev.
Joaquin Buckley vs. Nursulton Ruziboev Preview
Joaquin Buckley enters this fight as the hometown favorite, hailing from St. Louis with the crowd behind him. Buckley is coming off the biggest win of his career, having beat Vicente Luque down for a TKO win just over a month ago. The win granted Buckley the No.12 ranking and likely a big matchup, but he chose to fight in his hometown. Buckley found his way onto this card in an unconventional manner, calling for a fight in his hometown at the UFC 300 press conference. While it seemed like Dana White had brushed him off in the moment, Buckley’s wish was granted and he features on this card as the co-main event. Buckley has had newfound success since dropping to welterweight and is currently riding the heels of a three-fight win streak. A win here easily sets Buckley up for a top-10 matchup next.
Nursulton Ruziboev has garnered a bit of hype despite such a short UFC run. With just a 2-0 record in the promotion, he gets his chance at a co-main event on a card with a crowd. This will also be Ruziboev’s first UFC fight at welterweight, having been at middleweight for his previous two appearances. Despite fighting at welterweight in the past, he hasn’t in his past 10 fights. Some fans feared that he would struggle to make the weight, but he put those rumors to rest by being first on the scale yesterday. He comes into this fight off back-to-back first-round TKOs over Sedriques Dumas and Brunno Ferreira and untapped potential.
Fight Recap
The size difference was the major takeaway just looking at these two in the cage. Ruziboev stayed on the back foot looking to counter while Buckley tried to get in range and land some bombs. A flying knee grazed Buckley’s head as he shot a takedown but he was able to secure it and get into full guard. Ruziboev got back to his feet and landed a massive uppercut that stunned Buckley. As he landed follow-up strikes Buckley grabbed him and secured another big takedown. Buckley stayed at range attempting to pick his times to close the distance before whiffing on a big combination.
Buckley landed another takedown early in Round 2 looking to draw on Ruziboev’s gas tank but he quickly got back to his feet. The two exchanged big shots consistently as Buckley started to close the range. Ruziboev started to work effectively with kicks and straight punches from range. Buckley grasped his hands behind Ruziboev’s back and a beautiful trip that got him into side control. The round ended with Ruziboev attacking the arm for an armbar off his back.
The third started the same as the previous one before Buckley landed a big shot that dropped Ruziboev early. He recovered quickly and got back to his feet but slipped onto his back again with Buckley taking mount and raining down big ground and pound. The referee was close to stepping in after Bucklet landed nearly 30 unanswered strikes but let it continue. Ruziboev then ended up on top and started to land but then was reversed by Buckley who got in side control. Buckley postured up with some big strikes but couldn’t find the finish. Ruziboev then started axe-kicking a grounded Buckley from off his back which stopped the action but it was quickly continued to the bell.
UFC Fighters React to Joaquin Buckley Shutting Down Nursulton Ruziboev
Featured Image Credit to Embed from Getty Images
