Joaquin Buckley's Hilarious Response to Kevin Holland's UFC 307 Prediction

Having fought Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson and Joaquin Buckley before, Kevin Holland weighs in on the UFC 307 matchup.

Christopher De Santiago | Oct 2, 2024

Sep 3, 2022; Paris, FRANCE; Joaquin Buckley (blue gloves) during his fight against Nassourdine Imavov (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Accor Arena. / Per Haljestam-Imagn Images

Kevin Holland doesn't see Joaquin Buckley taking the same approach he did against Stephen Thompson.

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One of the most seasoned strikers on the UFC roster with a kickboxing record of 57-0, "Wonderboy" is back in action this weekend at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City. Thompson, 41, looks to return to the win column and in a big way against rising contender Buckley in the featured prelim of the night.

Kicking off the pay-per-view portion right after is Kevin Holland, who has fought both fighters before, knocking out Buckley in 2020 and losing by TKO to Thompson in 2022 in what was a striking-only contest.

Prior to the fight, Holland made a gentlemen's agreement with Thompson to stand and trade with him, not swarming him on the ground, looking for takedowns. Holland kept his word, going to war with "Wonderboy" on the feet, though to his demise as his team waved it off in between rounds 4 and 5 due to sustained damage.

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Holland Weighs In On Wonderboy vs. Buckley: Battle Of His Former Foes

Owner of 13 KO's, Joaquin Buckley is no slouch in the stand-up either but his former foe Holland doesn't think for a second that he'll try to beat the karate-style Thompson at his own game.

"Buckley's annoying, and it's like, I don't understand why Wonderboy would wanna do that," Holland said at UFC 307 media day of Thompson taking the Buckley fight.

He's riding a 4 fight win streak heading into the weekend! 👊@Newmansa94 is looking to make it five on Saturday at #UFC307

[ LIVE on @ESPNPlus PPV ] pic.twitter.com/mfHR8dcf0J
— UFC (@ufc) October 2, 2024

"Wonderboy, at one point in time, he wanted somebody who was just gonna strike with him.
Buckley's not gonna just strike with him. So, therefore, Wonderboy's probably gonna lose that fight."

It's no secret, wrestling has been the key to beat Thompson in the past with many fighters labeling his striking style as a tough puzzle to figure out.

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Styles Make Fights

Buckley revealed during media day that he was supposed to train with renowned kickboxer Raymond Daniels in an effort to emulate Wonderboy as an opponent but the sparring session never took place with Buckley having to fight the only way he knows how.

"I was a little bummed out," Buckley said of not training with Daniels. "There's nobody else that can replicate that type of style besides that person I tried to go train with. But then I thought about it. I said, bro, who is [Thompson] training with in order to imitate me? So I feel like at the end of the day, this is just gonna be the the fight that who got the best version and the best style that night in order to get their hand raised.