Joaquin Buckley will look to keep his perfect Welterweight record intact when he takes on Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC St. Louis.
Both men are only two weeks removed from their bouts at UFC Atlantic City, where both Buckley and Ruziboev picked up wins against Vincente Luque and Sedriques Dumas, respectively.
UFC CEO Dana white took to social media to announce the fight news. He said:
"What's up, guys? Flight announcement for you. Number 11, ranked welterweight Joaquin Buckley will now take on Nursulton Ruziboev as the Co-Main event for Saint Louis on May 11th from the Enterprise Center. Since he returned to the welterweight division, Buckley is on a three fight win streak. Two weeks ago, he finished Vicente Luque in the second round of their fight in Atlantic City, which broke him into the top 15.
"Buckley is athletic and powerful, with six of his eight wins coming by finish, including some of the nastiest head kick knockouts you will ever see. Also, Buckley's been showing up everywhere and doing everything, including jumping on the mic at UFC 300 press conference, asking me to get him a fight against anyone so he could fight in his hometown of Saint Louis.
"And as I've said many times, I love guys that are hungry, willing to fight anybody and asking for fights. That is Joaquin Buckley. And he's going to be taking on the very aggressive Nursulton Ruziboev is on a ten fight win streak. With all ten of those wins coming by first round finish. This dude is six foot five.
"All action striker pushes the pace, comes forward the entire time and looks to finish. He also fought on Atlantic City fight card a few weeks ago, and he's going to be moving down from middleweight to welterweight to take this fight. And I expect this to be a knockdown, drag them out war between two of the most explosive guys in the division.”
Elsewhere on the card, Heavyweights collide in the main event as Derrick Lewis faces Rodrigo Nascimento. ‘The Black Beast’ will be looking to turn his recent form on its head, having gone 1-4 in his last 5, as Nascimento comes into the contest unbeaten since 2020 and on the back of three decision victories.
Carlos Ulberg has the chance to jump into the top 15 at 205lbs when he faces Alonzo Menifield. The Australian has had three bouts rescheduled so far in 2024, so will be hoping fourth time is a charm as he looks to make the walk for the first time since September 2023.
Other notable bouts will see former Cage Warriors world champion Jake Hadley is back in action against Charles Johnson, Chase Hooper squares off against Viacheslav Borshchev in a Lightweight contest. After two big wins in 2023, Veronica Hardy will make the walk for the first time this year against JJ Aldrich.
