Stephen Thompson expects Joaquin Buckley to wrestle him at UFC 307: Guys no longer want to strike with me
SALT LAKE CITY – Stephen Thompson sees Joaquin Buckley resorting to grappling him at UFC 307.
Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) takes on Buckley (19-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in Saturday’s featured prelim (pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Although Buckley is owner of several devastating knockouts – including a spinning back kick knockout of Impa Kasanganay, Thompson noticed a different game plan from “New Mansa” as of late. Buckley landed four takedowns in his unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev in May, and Thompson thinks he’ll try and do the same to him.
“You go back and watch, I think it was a fight ago, he fought the big (Uzbek) dude, he took him down,” Thompson told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 307 media day. “He won by takedown. So I prepared for that. I knew that was going to happen.
“At this point, you’ve got guys who no longer want to stand and strike with me, which I think is a testament to my striking, and they just want to take me down now. So I’ll be ready wherever the fight goes.”
Thompson has struggled against the likes of Gilbert Burns and current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, who implemented a heavy grapple approach on him. Thompson only has one win by submission in his career, but hopes he can surprise Buckley with some of the things he’s been working on.
“Well hey, it could happen baby – you never know. I might sneak one of those in,” Thompson said on a potential submission win. “We’ve been working on it nonstop. I’ve got great coaches back home – got a great team around me to help me get to this point, so I’m going to put on a show.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.