UFC St. Louis: Derrick Lewis vs. Rodrigo Nascimento continues on the main card with the co-main event in the welterweight division between Joaquin Buckley and Nursulton Ruziboev. Buckley is coming off three consecutive victories since moving down to the welterweight division meanwhile, Ruziboev has now won 10 straight fights and both of his fights inside the Octagon. With that said, check out our UFC odds series for our Buckley-Ruziboev prediction and pick.

Joaquin Buckley (18-6) is coming off the biggest win of his career when he finished Vicente Luque in round two via ground-and-pound. Buckley was campaigning for the main event slot in his hometown of St. Louis but ultimately had to settle for the co-main event. Now, Buckley will look to make big on his golden opportunity in front of his friends and family when he takes on Nursulton Ruziboev this weekend at UFC St. Louis.

Nursulton Ruziboev (34-8-2) has been on an absolute tear with 10 straight victories inside round one. Two of those 10 victories came inside the Octagon which both combined for less than five minutes of fight time. Ruziboev will be cutting back down to 170 lbs for the first time since 2021 for the opportunity to face off against the surging Joaquin Buckley this weekend at UFC St. Louis.

Here are the UFC St. Louis Odds, courtesy of BetOnline. 

UFC St. Louis Odds: Joaquin Buckley-Nursulton Ruziboev Odds

Joaquin Buckley: -129

Nursulton Ruziboev: +109

Over 1.5 rounds: -145

Under 1.5 rounds: +115

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Why Joaquin Buckley Will Win

Joaquin Buckley has looked like a changed fighter ever since he decided to drop in weight from middleweight to welterweight. He is now fighting fighters his size (except for this weekend) while his speed and power have transitioned from middleweight to welterweight. Buckley will be putting his three-fight winning streak on the line when he takes on Nursulton Ruziboev this weekend at UFC St. Louis.

Buckley looked the best he's ever looked against his stiffest competition to date Vicente Luque in his last fight. Albeit it wasn't against a prime Luque nonetheless, it was a very experienced Luque who's fought some of the best fighters in the world and he just outclassed in every possible way. He will now be going against the surging Nursulton Ruziboev who has won 10 straight fights and a winner of two straight inside the Octagon. Ruziboev will be dropping in weight for this matchup after fighting less than two months ago at middleweight.

While he was already a big middleweight he is an even bigger welterweight and hasn't made the cut to 170 lbs since 2021. Also, of Ruziboev's eight losses, seven of them have come at 170 lbs. Buckley will have a distinct speed advantage in this fight and he will need to utilize that along with his power in his strikes and leg kicks to hammer away at Ruziboev as long as he can dart in and out without getting touched up he could run away with this fight and make it four in a row in his new weight class.

Why Nursulton Ruziboev Will Win

Nursulton Ruziboev came into his UFC debut riding an eight-fight first-round finish streak and he made the most of his short-notice call-up when he knocked out Brunno Ferreira in less than two minutes. He followed up that knockout with yet another knockout of Sedriques Dumas in his most recent fight back in March. Ruziboev will be looking to make it 3-0 in the UFC in less than a year with the promotion after stepping in on less than two months' notice in the highest-profile fight of his career against Joaquin Buckley this weekend at UFC St. Louis.

Ruziboev is a solid fighter will skills to win on the feet and on the mat. He trains out of Marquez Mixed Martial Arts with the Philly boys Joe Pyfer, Sean Brady, and Pat Sabatini just to name a few. While many believe Ruziboev to be a knockout artist due to his recent success on the feet, actually 20 of his 34 victories have come by submission. He is a fighter that is very hard to gameplan against because of his massive height at 6'5″ and his reach of 76″ which surprisingly will not be a factor as it is the identical reach of Buckley. However, his long-range weapons will help keep him out of harm's way against a power puncher like Buckley and if he can keep this fight upright and at his preferred he can potshot and counter his way to victory and get his 11th win in a row and his third win inside the Octagon.

Final Joaquin Buckley-Nursulton Ruziboev Prediction & Pick

This fight should be an absolute banger in the co-main event of this fight card. You can expect a ton of heavy artillery thrown on both sides. This is going to be a tough fight for Buckley having to deal with such a tall and long opponent but from the looks of it on his social media, he brought in a ton of tall and long high-level boxers to train against. However, Ruziboev is a tricky fighter that has some grappling skills we have yet to see which could throw Buckley off his game if he elects to go that route.

Ultimately, things will be close early on but once Buckley can get his timing down he's going to be too fast and too powerful for Ruziboev who's going to have a rough time trying to counter at range with the speed of Buckley and his cut 170 lbs will certainly not help as well as Buckley goes in there and outworks Ruziboev to a decision victory in front of his home crowd.

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Final Joaquin Buckley-Nursulton Ruziboev Prediction & Pick: Joaquin Buckley (-129), Over 1.5 Rounds (-145)