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Woodley took on Buckley in a wrestling match at RAF 12 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. Buckley looked substantially bigger than Woodley, having missed weight by a whopping seven pounds. While he took an early 8-0 lead in the first period, Woodley came from behind to win 14-8.
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Woodley believes Buckley has what it takes to become a UFC champion despite consecutive losses
Woodley later revealed that he has offered to help Buckley in training. He recalls his late coach, Duke Roufus, calling himself a winning coach, as opposed to just a striking coach. Woodley believes he can help optimize Buckley’s skill set just like Roufus had done for him. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champ also sees a future UFC titleholder in Buckley.
“The first time I was behind, I staged a comeback and won the fight,” Woodley told MMA Fighting. “For me, it was big, big motivation and confidence boost for my career. Cause that’s never happened before… It’s a win over a hungry welterweight, somebody that I think has what it takes to be a UFC champion. And I offered him, I said, ‘I can help you get there, brother.’ Duke Roufus, bless his soul, was like, ‘I’m not your striking coach; I’m your winning coach.’ He took my tools and my attributes and he showed me how to make fighting a little bit easier. I know I can do that for Joaquin. If he really wants to take me up on that. And I feel like he has what it takes to be a UFC champ.”
While Buckley was riding an impressive six-fight winning streak in 2024, “New Mansa” has since suffered consecutive losses against Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady.
Meanwhile, Woodley defended the UFC welterweight title four times before losing to Usman in 2019. “The Chosen One” never won in the UFC again and parted ways with the promotion on a four-fight slump in 2021. Woodley never officially announced his retirement from MMA and competed in boxing matches before his RAF debut. The former two-time All-American is now scheduled to face Khamzat Chimaev in a wrestling match at RAF Moscow on Sept. 5.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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