At Shamrock FC: FUEL on September 11th, rising welterweight Joaquin Buckley will have the chance to extend his unbeaten beginning to his professional career when he takes fellow undefeated fighter Kyle Kurtz.
Like a significant portion of American MMA fighters, Buckley’s introduction to the sport spawned from his days as an amateur wrestler.
“I started [training MMA] when I used to wrestle back in high school,” Buckley said on The MMA Report Live. “I did pretty good in that, and my coach told, ‘Hey man, you remind me of Tyron Woodley just from your wrestling, and I think Mixed Martial Arts would be pretty good for you. ‘I fell in love with it on the first day. As soon as I walked into the doors [of Finney MMA], just seeing all the charismatic people and the fighters and everything like that, I knew it was something that I wanted to do automatically.”
When it came to making the move from wrestling to MMA, Buckley was able to also flip the switch from looking at the contests as a fight instead of a match.
“I don’t look at it as a match,” Buckley said. “When I’m in the cage, I’m thinking life or death. Between me and my opponent, it’s either me or him. If you and I have the referee in the cage, that’s pretty much what it would be, just a straight brutal fight tot he death. That’s how I look at it, and that’s the only reason why I’m still undefeated. The whole point is that I want to survive.”
As well as coming to grips with the terms of fighting, Buckley also understands the unique mindset that is on display every time he takes to the cage.
“I feel like you got three faces,” Buckley said. “The one I’m talking you right now, the one you have along with your family and that you don’t see. For me, the one that you don’t see, unfortunately, you see it in the cage. I’m truly myself when I’m in the cage, and I’m expressing myself in it’s truest form. That mindset that I have to actually be myself truly in order to win the fight.”
And when it comes to his opponent Kyle Kurtz – who Buckley outpointed in a decision victory on the amateur scene, Buckley will have no trouble showcasing that face given some of Kurtz’s recent comments.
“When he comes, and he tells me that he’s going to dominate me in a vicious manner, that’s just disrespectful,” Buckley said. “I have to make [Kurtz] an example of never disrespect[ing] me like that. There’s nothing wrong with, even my opponent, feeling like I’m going to try my best or I’m going to do as best as I can to win the fight. I’m going in there with a lot of motivation to just go out there and finish him and just prove him wrong, or prove his family wrong because he knows he’s going to get knocked out. That’s the only people I feel sorry for, his family. He fills their heads up with lies.”
In his re-match with Kurtz, Buckley is looking to put on a definitive showing and do what he wasn’t able to do the last time both welterweights squared off, finish the fight.
“It’s a business. People want to see finishes. People want to hear about finishes. It’s boring going to a decision, so I want to finish him. No doubt about it.”