Nursulton Ruziboev vs Joaquin Buckley Prediction: Betting on the Uzbek fighter to win

On the night of 11-12 May, the UFC St. Louis tournament will take place in the United States. In the co-main event, Uzbek fighter Nursulton Ruziboev will face American Joaquin Buckley.

For some reason, bookmakers underestimate Ruziboev, but he's quite capable of making some noise in the UFC. All his victories (except for two at an early stage) he won early, as a rule, in the first round. Moreover, Nursulton wins both by knockout and by submission - he is a versatile fighter. He came to mixed martial arts from karate, but he was the champion of Uzbekistan in jiu-jitsu. The fighter is experienced, established, and very clever.

In his last ten fights, Ruziboev has finished his opponents in the first round, and the UFC was no exception. He made his debut in the world's strongest league at short notice, and it took him just over one minute to knock out Brunno Ferreira with a straight punch in his first fight. In his next fight, his opponent lasted slightly longer, at three minutes and eighteen seconds.

This is the guy who, three years ago, demonstrated the knockout of the century, and we still do not get tired of admiring him.

But that's probably all that can be said about him in admiring tones. Nevertheless, we will not argue that Buckley is a very tough guy. His opposition has been by no means weak, and he is now on a streak of three straight wins, two of them by knockout.

Joaquin Buckley is excellent in the stand-up, and although Nursultan is unlikely to lose to him in that, he will probably try to move the fight to wrestling, where his skills are obviously better. This confrontation will not last long; neither fighter likes to put things off. If we talk about the winner, we believe that the Uzbek has more advantages, even if the bookmakers don't agree with us.