Those two years off didn’t seem to have had too much of an effect on Justin Bucholz.
Most will probably recognise Bucholz from his time cornering the elite fighters from Team Alpha Male rather than his unsuccessful UFC run between 2008 and 2010.
Bucholz went 1-4 in the Octagon before returning to the regional circuit but, in recent years, he’s spent the majority of his time acting as something of a head coach for the likes of UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, top UFC featherweight Chad Mendes and the newest addition to the UFC’s women’s flyweight division Paige VanZant.
He’s cultivated a tremendous reputation as a coach but he wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to test his skills when a call came to return to competitive action this week.
The 34-year-old accepted a short-notice bout against Marques Facine at Alaska Fighting Championships 133 and he didn’t display the slightest hint of ring rust in his return as he brutalised the body of his opponent.
Bucholz was clearly in terrific shape and his years spent studying tape and guiding other fighters looked to have done him the world of good as he encountered little resistance in his comeback.
Justin Bucholz landed several hard soccer kicks to the body of Marques Facine and the last one went to the head and Facine was done #AFC133 pic.twitter.com/11Tl1Yjo0m
— HONKY EXTRAORDINAIRE (@Mr_Honky) September 21, 2017
Bucholz capitalised on a first-round slip from Facine and began hammering soccer kicks into the hometown fighter’s midsection and while the final strike accidentally slipped up and hit Facine in the head – a foul under the Unified Rules of MMA – it was reportedly deemed unintentional by the referee and Bucholz was awarded a TKO victory.
The ongoing feud between Team Alpha Male and former striking coach Duane Ludwig recently saw suggestions that Ludwig and Bucholz could face off in the cage to settle their differences and, given the latter’s performance on Wednesday night, it might just make for compelling viewing.
