Kamaru Usman vs. Joaquin Buckley To Headline UFC On ESPN 69

Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman’s next fight will be against Joaquin Buckley in the main event of UFC On ESPN 69 in Atlanta, Georgia on June 14th.

The 37-year-old Usman comes into this fight in the unusual position of having lost his last three fights in a row, despite having won all 15 of his UFC bouts prior to that, including making five successful defenses of the welterweight title.

Usman’s first UFC loss came back in 2022 when he appeared on the verge of beating Leon Edwards on the scorecards up until his opponent landed a picture-perfect head kick in the final minute of the fight to knock him out and seize the title.

Edwards then went on to beat Usman by majority decision in a rematch in 2023, and later that year Usman moved up to challenge himself at middleweight against Khamzat Chimaev and lost by another majority decision ruling.

Now, well over 18 months after that last fight, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ returns to face the 30-year-old Buckley, who has battled his way to the No.6 spot in the 170lb rankings courtesy of a six-fight winning streak over the past two years.

That run includes four victories via strikes, and over some notable opponents too, having TKO’d Vicente Luque, KO’d Stephen Thompson and most recently TKO’d Colby Covington in the final UFC event of last year.

Usman vs. Buckley fronts a UFC On ESPN 69 that is still in it’s fledgling stages, but will also feature a fight between Rose Namajunas and Miranda Maverick.