Joaquin Buckley doesn’t think he is heading into enemy territory on Saturday at UFC Paris, despite fighting a local.
Buckley is set to face Nassourdine Imavov, and many expected Buckley to be going into enemy territory. However, he says that is not the case as even though Imavov lives and trains in France, he was born in Dagestan and has walked out with the Russian flag before. That is why Buckley says he is not going into enemy territory.
All Love for Joaquin Buckley in Paris
“I’m not in enemy territory. I’ve been getting all the love here in France, in Paris,” Buckley said at UFC Paris media day.
“To be honest with you, Nassourdine – I don’t know how long he’s been here, but I know he’s not born here. He’s a Russian guy – Dagestani. He sometimes carried the Russian flag, so a lot of people from France, when I said his name, they didn’t know who he was and they told me, ‘Go get him. Go knock him out.’ For France, that’s what they told me. I’ve got it on video. So at the end of the day, I think he’s in enemy territory, not me.”
Buckley is entering the fight coming off an upset win over Albert Duraev and before that, beat Abdul Razak Alhassan by decision and knocked out Antonio Arroyo. In the UFC, Buckley is 5-2 with four wins by knockout and in his career, he has 11 of 15 wins by stoppage. Imavov meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back TKO wins over Edmen Shahbazyan and Ian Heinisch so with that, Buckley vows the fight will end by stoppage.
“Somebody’s getting finished,” Buckley said. “So my thing is having the skill, having experience, and just having a will. Whose will is going to be stronger and who’s going to break first is the person that’s going to fall. Whatever he gives me, whatever openings that he shows, I’m going to expose and I’m going to take it. But I do see my hand getting raised at the end of the day.”
