Joaquin Buckley will face his toughest test when he steps inside the Octagon to fight Kamaru Usman, the former pound-for-pound king, at UFC Atlanta. The fight night headliner will have “New Mansa” take on his first former Welterweight champion after successive finishes over Colby Covington and Stephen Thompson, two-time undisputed title challengers.
Joaquin Buckley Vows To Make a Charitable Donation After UFC Atlanta
Usman has not fought since losing to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October 2023. “The Nigerian Nightmare” is on a three-fight losing skid and is a betting underdog against Buckley. However, “New Mansa” isn’t taking the Usman lightly.
Moreover, he predicts they will win the Fight of the Night bonus at UFC Atlanta, amounting to $50,000 each. That said, Buckley doesn’t plan to use it for himself, as he shared his plan on episode 4 of “Buck What You Heard.”
“I want to take the opportunity, man, to donate the bonus that I get to the St. Louis disaster relief, you know what I mean, for the tornado that hit St. Louis. You know, you got a lot of people that went through that struggle—that had to endure, you know, a situation like that where they lost everything, right?” Buckley said.
The 31-year-old noted that the tornado caused immense damage, but he pointed out that something good also came after the disaster.
“St. Louis came together as a community, man, by cleaning, by feeding, by sharing, by caring about one another, you know. So with that being said, man, I’m proud of y’all. I’m proud of St. Louis,” Buckley added.
Buckley has never won a Fight of the Night bonus in his UFC career. He has won five Performance of the Night bonuses, but four came during his stint at Middleweight. His only bonus during his six-fight undefeated streak at Welterweight came against Stephen Thompson at UFC 307.
Incidentally, Usman has also won five post-fight bonuses. However, he has a Fight of the Night bonus against his first fight with Colby Covington at UFC 245.
Buckley Makes Historic Comparison for Upcoming Fight Against Usman
Throughout the history of combat sports, several matchups have transcended and made the fighters legends. MMA is a relatively new sport, so most came from professional boxing. Buckley predicts his fight against Usman will be on the same mould, as he cited several iconic examples.
“This is going to be fight of the century. Like, this is going to be a historic fight. This is going to be like one of those fights that you remember – that go down in history. Like, you know, Mike Tyson and [Evander] Holyfield. Like [Roberto] Duran and [Sugar Ray] Leonard. Like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. This fight is going to go down in history once it happens,” Buckley said.
Ali vs. Frazier in 1971 was dubbed the “Fight of the Century” and lived up to expectations. The fight triggered a rematch and a trilogy. Similar is the case for Duran and Leonard. Tyson vs. Holyfield was followed by a controversial rematch that ended after “Iron” bit his opponent’s ear off.
Matching these seems like a tall task for Buckley and Usman.