An exciting matchup between middleweight knockout artists will take place in January.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that a bout between Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan will take place at the UFC’s event on Jan. 15, which is expected to take place at the APEX in Las Vegas, although the promotion has yet to officially announce. Instagram page MMA Ideas was first to report the booking.
Buckley bounced back from a loss to Alessio Di Chirico with a third-round finish of Antonio Arroyo at UFC Vegas 37 in September. After losing his promotional debut to Kevin Holland, “New Mansa” picked up his first octagon win with one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history against Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Island 5 in October 2020, before going on to stop Jordan Wright a month later at UFC 255.
Alhassan made the move up to middleweight in April and lost a unanimous decision to Jacob Malkoun, but returned to the cage at August’s UFC Vegas 35 event and delivered a devastating 17-second KO of Di Chirico, which put an end to a three-fight skid.