Joaquin Buckley will look to keep his momentum going in 2021 with a fight against Alessio Di Chirico at UFC Fight Island 7 on January 16 according to a report from MMA Junkie.
Buckley got a late notice call to face off against Kevin Holland back in August. On that occasion, he was tough and gritty but ultimately fell short against Holland who won five straight fights in 2020 including a highlight-reel knockout over MMA legend ‘Jacare’ Souza.
A couple of months later and Buckey was back in action against unbeaten, highly fancied prospect Impa Kasanganay. ‘New Mansa’ pulled off one of the most epic knockouts in MMA history and LowKickMMA’s knockout of the year to snatch Impa’s hype, undefeated record, and a cool $50,000 bonus. Buckley went on to face an unbeaten fighter Jordan Wright and scored another vicious knockout win.
Post-fight Buckley called for a fight with James Krause but unfortunately, that match-up has not come off. Di Chirico instead gets the call and very well could be fighting for his UFC career on January 16. The Italian has lost three straight fights and most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Zak Cummings in August. Makhmud Muradov and Kevin Holland picked up decision wins over the 31-year-old in 2019. Prior to this losing streak, Di Chirico managed back-to-back UFC wins over Oluwale Bamgbose and Julian Marquez.
UFC Fight Island 7 – Full Card
Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar
Sara McMann vs. Julianna Pena
Mike Grundy vs. Nik Lentz
Brian Kelleher vs. Ricky Simon
Jacob Kilburn vs. Austin Lingo
Carlos Felipe vs. Justin Tafa
Punahele Soriano vs. Dusko Todorovic
Anthony Hernandez vs. Rodolfo Vieira
Bethe Correia vs. Wu Yanan
Christian Aguilera vs. Warlley Alves
Omari Akhmedov vs. Tom Breese
Ramazan Emeev vs. David Zawada
Phil Hawes vs. Nassourdine Imavov
Joaquin Buckley vs. Alessio Di Chirico
Do you think Joaquin Buckley can become a contender in 2021?