Joaquin
Buckley gave his best effort to get a finish against Nursulton
Ruziboev in the third round of the UFC
on ESPN 56 co-main event, but it wasn’t meant to be.
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Despite a dominant third round where Buckley dropped his foe and
outlanded him by a 64-to-16 count in significant strikes, Ruziboev
was able to make it to the final horn. Still, there was no doubt
about the final verdict, as “New Mansa” emerged with a clear-cut
unanimous decision triumph on Saturday at the Enterprise Center in
St. Louis for his fourth consecutive UFC victory.
“I ain’t gonna lie. I guess (referee Keith) Peterson had his money
on somebody else, because he should have stopped the fight a long
time ago,” Buckley said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“But it is what it is. He’s a tough guy. He had a lot of motivation
to try to win so he stayed in there. His will was strong.”
The performance was especially significant for Buckley, a St. Louis
native who had campaigned to get on the card following his victory
over Vicente
Luque on March 30.
“This win means a lot because we have somebody to represent the
city in a positive way, a positive light,” Buckley said. “I’ve
grown up here, I was born here, I was raised here. I’m an image
that kids can see that you could follow your dreams, and you can do
the things that you always want to do. With that being said, this
win is definitely going to be a great positive outlet for kids to
look at and for me to go out there and continue to do what I’m
doing.”
Buckley won’t necessarily get to do everything he wants, at least
as it relates to his post-fight callout. Buckley used his
microphone time to lobby for a fight with Conor
McGregor, a notion UFC CEO Dana White quickly dismissed during
his time on the podium. Buckley didn’t necessarily expect to have
his request granted, but it didn’t hurt to take a shot, either.
“Definitely not gonna get that, but why not take chances? I’ve been
doing it up until this moment, so I said why not make the biggest
callout that I could make,” Buckley said. “If Michael
Chandler doesn’t show up for the fight [at UFC 303], guess
what, ‘New Mansa’ will be ready.”
With that in mind, Buckley shifted to a more realistic opponent for
his next outing.
“Gilbert
Burns, I think it’s a beautiful fight. It’s a beautiful
matchup,” Buckley said. “I don’t know when he’s gonna be ready,
when he’s gonna be cleared, but Gilbert Burns, definitely.”
Burns, a former welterweight title challenger, has lost his last
two Octagon appearances. He last fought at UFC 299, where he
suffered a third-round KO defeat to Jack
Della Maddalena on March 9.