This past Saturday in the featured prelim of UFC 307, we saw a big time matchup in the welterweight division. Former title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson (17-8-1) was taking on surging contender Joaquin “New Mansa” Buckley (20-6).
Buckley hadn’t lost since moving down to 170 entering Saturday night. In the first round, Buckley was able to get an early takedown, but he couldn’t keep Wonderboy down. You could see what his game plan was from the jump. He was trying to get the fight to the ground, but Thompson did a great job of staying up and away.
Wonderboy did land the better shots in the first so I gave him the round. In the second round, Wonderboy started strong, but Buckley finished better. A big takedown and really big combinations at the end of the round evened things up on my scorecard. Buckley really started to throw with pressure and power and that was bothering Wonderboy.
In the third round, Buckley was throwing everything into his shots. He had Thompson against the fence and lunged with a huge right hand that put him down. One huge follow up and Wonderboy was out giving Buckley the massive win at UFC 307.
What’s next after UFC 307?
Make no mistake about it, Joaquin Buckley is a legit contender at 170 pounds. He’s been climbing the rankings and his last two ranked opponents were Vicente Luque and Wonderboy who he finished before the final bell. Buckley is dangerous and he’s showing that he can contender for the UFC welterweight title.
In his post-fight interview, Buckley had a great callout in former champion Kamaru Usman. Usman hasn’t fought since last year when he fought Khamzat Chimaev last-minute at middleweight. Usman lost that fight which was his third fight in a row. Prior to that, he suffered the last-minute knockout loss to Leon Edwards and then lost a close decision against Edwards in their championship trilogy.
Usman needs a fight to come back to with Shavkat Rakhmonov likely getting the next title shot. If you ask me, this is the perfect fight for the UFC to make. I also wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Buckley take on either Sean Brady or Jack Della Maddalena. Either way, Buckley needs to get a fight that with a win would put him in title contention.