Stephen Thompson has committed to a show with Joaquin Buckley at UFC 307.
The fan-friendly strikers will square off at welterweight in a highly anticipated qualifying matchup Saturday night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Meanwhile, the main card matches open with a 2022 middleweight matchup between Roman Dorise and Kevin Holland, whom “Wonder Boy” defeated in a corner stoppage.
Thompson, on the other hand, is happy to have secured the high-profile reserve spot, as it means much less work behind the scenes. However, Thompson believes the matchup with Buckley could be a “fight of the night” and deserves to be on the main card. That said, Thompson admits that since his victory over Holland, he has only dropped a submission loss against Shavkat Rakhmonov in December 2023. Meanwhile, ‘Trail Blazer’ has since gone 3-2, most recently breaking Michal Oleksejuk’s arm at UFC 302 in June of this year to earn a first-round stoppage. All things considered, Thompson is more than excited to get back into the game.
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. Order now!
“For the main card, there’s a long wait. You have to wait to get in. There’s more commercials on the pay-per-view. So you can go out there and get it done to be the main event of the preliminaries.” That’s great,” Thompson told Submission Radio. “But at the same time, I think this fight deserves to be on the main card. I think me and Joaquin Buckley will go out and really put on a show, probably the ‘Fight of the Night.’ But you also have to look – I haven’t fought since December [2023]It’s been a long time. Holland is out there and continuing to put in the effort. Jose Aldo will be on the main card as well as other players. But to be honest, I’m kind of looking forward to it since it’s been a while. ”
Thompson believes his matchup with Buckley will go all the way and he will raise his hand at the end. And the welterweight veteran vows to spend 15 minutes proving that Booking deserves a spot on the main card.
“I don’t think about the knockout. I imagine my hand going up at the end of the fight,” Thompson said. “I’m ready for a three-, five-minute round war. I feel like, like me and Kevin Holland, this could have been an actual main event. Great for a fight night or something. But here we are, humans. [UFC] 307, the main event of the prelim card. We’re going to get out there and show everyone what’s going on. We deserve to be on that pay-per-view card. ”
