Vicente Luque links fight with Buckley to series of cancellations

Number 11 in the welterweight rankings (77 kg) and coming off a victory, Vicente Luque faces, this Saturday (30), in the UFC Atlantic City, Joaquin Buckley – who doesn’t even appear in the top 15 in the category. Due to the current stages of both their careers, the fight may have surprised a good portion of fans. MMA.

But, in an exclusive interview with the news team at Ag Fightthe Brazilian justified the scenario and linked the confrontation against an unranked opponent to his recent history of postponements and cancellations of fights in Ultimate.

In the last three commitments, Vicente saw fights being postponed or canceled. In mid-2023, his duel against Rafael dos Anjos was postponed from July to August. In December of the same year, his long-awaited fight against teammate Ian Machado Garry, ranked seventh, fell on the eve of the UFC 296.

For the Atlantic City card, Luque would face eighth-placed Sean Brady – who was forced to leave the event due to an injury. Willing to interrupt the period of inactivity at any cost, the Brasilia native agreed to stay on the same date and face a new rival, even if outside the top 15.

“Yes, definitely (the ideal would be ranked). Several factors made this fight happen. The date is the main factor, it’s a date I wanted. I’ve been preparing to fight for a while. It didn’t happen in December and I managed to wait. But March was already the (deadline) date I wanted, which I saw as ideal. It was going to happen with Sean Brady, unfortunately it didn’t happen. But for me to fight someone ranked, that would probably mean waiting until June or July. Then it would be a long time (without fighting). He would have to prolong his training even longer, and he could be physically harmed. Then I saw that it didn’t make much sense. And within the possibilities Buckley came,” explained Luque.

To stay on the card UFC Atlantic City, Vicente needed to realign his strategy in the last weeks of camp. According to the Brazilian, Sean Brady, his original opponent who ended up injured, and Joaquin Buckley, his replacement for the vacancy and current rival, have opposing fighting styles and, therefore, there was specific study work to adapt the plan. game for the new opponent.

“What had to change (in the camp) was more studying. The good thing is that I was already at a good, intense pace. When I look at the opponent’s game, it really is totally different. Brady is right-handed, Joaquin is left-handed. One guy is a grappler who has a more technical striking, and Joaquin is already a very aggressive striker, he has unorthodox strikes. He comes with some pretty surprising moves. He explores these different moves a lot. So he did have a change, especially in sparring, to be able to have guys who could do that. But I think I managed to prepare very well, design my game to face a guy like Buckley, who is aggressive and strong. But there are several things I can use to my advantage”, analyzed the Brazilian.

The fight between Luque and Buckley will serve as the ‘co-main event’ of this Saturday’s card. Also on the main card, Bruno Blindado faces former champion Chris Weidman. In the preliminary portion of the show, three other Brazilians take action: Virna Jandiroba, Herbert Burns and Melissa Gatto, who face, respectively, Loopy Godinez, Julio Arce and Viktoria Dudakova. The ‘main event’ is the duel between Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot.