In a recent interview, Joaquin Buckley discusses turning down a fight with Leon Edwards on his meteoric rise in the UFC welterweight division. With “New Mansa” now being slated to face former champion Kumaru Usman at UFC on ESPN: Usman vs. Buckley. The top welterweight would explain himself for snubbing the British former champion in the following way:
“They did call me for that Leon [Edwards] fight. Hunter did ask me if I wanted to fight Leon, but I kept it a buck-I’m picky now, right? Leon beating Leon, and then seeing the performance he put on, whatever, it’s cool. But then, okay, I do that to Leon, the number one contender, which is cool, but the story is that, ‘Oh man, Leon, this dude been washed,’ right? I guess so, yeah, kind of right now, I guess so. Like, that’s what it would have been-just like how Sean Brady did. The Leon of old did not show up, right?”
In a sense, the Missouri native is correct. Even Sean Brady, who thoroughly dominated Leon Edwards in their fight, believes that although a monumental victory for his career still will not be enough to earn him a title shot, the division is as stacked and as active as it has ever been, with no clear contender as of yet.
Joaquin Buckley is choosing his battles wisely.
Jouaquin Buckley has finished over top welterweight strikers such as Vicente Luque and Stephen Thompson. Now, with a recent win over top welterweight wrestler Colby Covington, he is primed to face a similar foe in Kumaru Usman, who was once a terrorizer of the division with his relentless takedowns and top control, much like Covington. Now that both have since declined from championship status, Joaquin Buckley is looking to pick up the pieces of the old guard and grow his resume to stake his claim for a shot at Jack Della Maddalena, in a brilliant maneuver.
