Joaquin Buckley made the most out of his moment at UFC 307.

The always outspoken welterweight contender took care of business in the octagon after he delivered a vicious one-punch knockout on Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson midway through the third round. It was a stunning finish after Buckley had struggled on the feet against the crafty Thopmson but it only took one big shot to change everything.

The end came at 2:17 in the third round and following his latest win, Buckley then turned his attention to a former welterweight champion who still needs a fight right now.

“We just blocking out the noise, all the distractions and going to work,” Buckley said after his win. “We coming for that throne. I feel like I need to fight one more before I fight for the belt. I love Belal [Muhammad], I’m going to let you handle that with Shavkat [Rakhmonov]

“[Kamaru] Usman get your ass out here in the octagon. Everybody wants to see that fight. Let’s go. I’m going to put my 5-0 record against your [three straight losses] and let’s get it. Let’s see who’s going to win.”

After he was criticized for calling out Conor McGregor following his previous win, Buckley received a whole lot of praise asking for this matchup with Usman out of action since October 2023 and looking to get back into title contention.

As for the fight itself, it took less than 30 seconds for Buckley to swoop inside and grab a takedown to put Thompson on the canvas. The game plan didn’t surprise Thompson, who quickly scrambled to get back to his feet but he was still dealing with a lot of forward pressure from Buckley.

As Buckley continued to rush forward, Thompson acted like a sniper from the outside with a right hand that started connecting in almost every exchange. Thompson’s counter striking was giving Buckley all kinds of problems whenever he moved forward without actually setting anything up.

Buckley’s best success came from making the fight ugly when he got in Thompson’s face, threw punches in bunches and then looked for a takedown. Even when he got the fight down to the canvas, Buckley just couldn’t hold Thompson down as the two-time welterweight title challenger consistently broke free to return to his feet.

With five minutes remaining, Buckley started launching bombs just trying to overwhelm Thompson but the veteran striker avoided taking too much damage. But Buckley recognized where he was finding his opening so he just threw technical striking out the door and went headhunting.

That’s when Buckley rushed ahead and uncorked the hellacious right hand that blasted Thompson and sent him crumbling to the canvas. The referee immediately swooped in to stop the fight with Thompson wobbled badly as he attempted to get back to his feet.

It was an ultra-impressive showing for Buckley, who won his fifth straight fight since moving to welterweight. Perhaps Usman ends up as his next test with Buckley looking to put himself into title contention sooner rather than later.