Kamaru Usman perfects plan to beat ‘dangerous’ Joaquin Buckley at UFC Atlanta on Saturday

Old school meets new school in the main event of UFC Atlanta. Former welterweight champion and pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman comes back from a 19-month layoff when he takes on rising contender Joaquin Buckley in five rounds or less.

Usman hasn’t been in the win column since defeating rival Colby Covington in 2021. The 38-year-old is currently on a three-fight losing streak to Leon Edwards (x2) and Khamzat Chimaev.

As for Buckley, the younger contender is undefeated in the UFC welterweight division at 6-0.

The betting favourite, Buckley, is coming off TKO wins over perennial contenders Covington, Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque.

While many are quick to count out Usman, one of his former foes believes he finds a way to pull out the win on Saturday.

“I want Kamaru to win,” Burns said of his former foe Usman on The Show Me The Money Podcast.

“At the gym, we had one of the guys who smashed Buckley back in the day. Logan Storley just outwrestled him, ground and pounded him.

“It shows Kamaru the way,” Burns said.

“I think Kamaru has to mix it up. I think he was the best at the time when he was mixing it up. Not just striking. I kinda called that he was gonna lose to Leon [Edwards]. At that time, he wasn’t wrestling anymore.

“Whenever he mixes it up, sometimes he’ll wrestle not just to wrestle, [but to] wrestle just to make this guy think about it and then strike better, get loose. Take this guy down, make this guy tired.

“Buckley is very muscular, very strong. If he lets Buckley out of pressure, Buckley is very, very dangerous. I think the way for Kamaru is to put pressure. I hope he wins. I think he can. We’re gonna see that.”

Buckley’s wrestling and takedown defence have significantly improved since losing to Logan Storley in Bellator.

Across 15 UFC fights, Buckley has surrendered 9 takedowns and has a 73% takedown defence rate.

A former middleweight, the 31-year-old Buckley has only been taken down twice in the UFC welterweight division, one of which was by Colby Covington.

In his last appearance, Buckley defended 7 out of 8 takedown attempts from Covington. The former interim champion controlled Buckley with one takedown for 1:18 of control time before Buckley made it back up to his feet, proving he’s a hard man to keep down.

Usman’s takedown defence is at 87% with a takedown average of 2.82.