Joaquin Buckley met with Daniel Cormier ahead of UFC 307 and revealed plans to send “Wonderboy” to Karate Combat

Joaquin Buckley is doing his best to stay focused on Stephen Thompson at UFC 307, but some old hands keep pulling him in different directions.

Perhaps the most interesting encounter was him finally sitting down and discussing his differences with UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier after they had a heated war of words earlier this year. The incident stemmed from Cormier criticizing Buckley's decision to call out Conor McGregor after a win, which led to an ugly exchange on social media.

Buckley later said he hoped to meet with Cormier before his fight at UFC 307 to resolve their differences.

“I just spoke to DC,” Buckley revealed during UFC 307 media day. “That was cool. We stood in front of the camera, I thought we would be alone in the room for a while just so we could talk like men.

“But it is what it is, we had a good conversation. A good interview. People will be able to see it. This is how I imagined it, away from the camera and only from man to man. I think that’s the conversation I would rather have, that I would be more comfortable with.”

Buckley also responded to former opponent Kevin Holland, who said Wednesday he chose a different location outside of the UFC fighter hotel to avoid a possible altercation between them. Holland scored a TKO win over Buckley in their 2020 meeting, but the rivalry apparently never ended after that.

For his part, Buckley says he has no problems with Holland and that his grand plan didn't really work anyway – because he didn't even stay at the fighter hotel.

“I don’t have a problem with Kevin Holland,” Buckley said. “I am here to fight [Stephen Thompson] and get my paycheck. But if Kevin wants any trouble or problems, he just has to come after me. That’s all.”

As for his actual fight on Saturday, Buckley told MMA Fighting ahead of UFC 307 that he had no problem with Thompson, aside from trying to further his own career by defeating the two-time UFC title challenger.

Shortly after the fight was announced, Buckley joked that he would send “Wonderboy” to Karate Combat, but that wasn't a clever way of saying he wanted to end Thompson's career.

Instead, Buckley stated that he wants to dominate Thompson so thoroughly in their encounter that the 41-year-old veteran will have no choice but to acknowledge that his days of chasing a UFC title are over.

“It's not about stopping his career, it's about giving him a different career path,” Buckley said. “I know that I beat him once and how I beat him and fashion [I beat him]he still thinks about becoming UFC champion – once I beat him he knows it's over.

“He doesn’t want to keep fighting and trying to prove himself, especially against the younger players. I think he's really going to face the fact and face the reality that once I beat him, I might as well give up on this dream that I have and become one [Karate Combat] Champion. Because I think he can. I think he can become a champion in karate fighting.”