The UFC’s upcoming journey to St. Louis now has a co-main occasion.
Joaquin Buckley will get his want to compete in a key matchup on the occasion, as he’ll tackle Nursulton Ruziboev in a co-main welterweight bout at UFC on ESPN 56 (ESPN, ESPN+), which takes place Could 11 at Enterprise Heart.
UFC CEO Dana White introduced the matchup Wednesday on Instagram. The occasion is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between former title challenger Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento.
Though it’s not the principle occasion that Buckley (18-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) requested for when he crashed the UFC 300 pre-fight press convention, “New Mansa” will get a giant spot in his hometown in opposition to a fellow finisher in Ruziboev (34-8-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC).
Buckley has been on a tear since dropping from middleweight to welterweight. He made the shift final Could, and has racked up three wins, together with a giant floor and pound end over Vicente Luque at UFC on ESPN 54 in March.
Ruziboev hasn’t seen Spherical 2 since 2019. He’s presently working tremendous sizzling on a 10-fight, first-round stoppage streak that features finishes of Brunno Ferreira and Sedriques Dumas below the UFC banner. He will probably be dropping all the way down to 170 kilos for the primary time since 2021, when he gained the struggle to spark his present streak.
With the addition, the present UFC on ESPN 56 lineup contains:
Derrick Lewis vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
Joaquin Buckley vs. Nursulton Ruziboev
Alonzo Menifield vs. Carlos Ulberg
Jared Gooden vs. Kevin Jousset
Tabatha Ricci vs. Tecia Torres
Alex Caceres vs. Sean Woodson
Jake Hadley vs. Charles Johnson
Terrance McKinney vs. Esteban Ribovics
Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Chase Hooper
Billy Goff vs. Trey Waters
Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Robelis Despaigne
Diego Ferreira vs. Mateusz Rebecki
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