Latest news with #JoaquinBuckley
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kamaru Usman fights back tears after beating Joaquin Buckley to earn first UFC win since 2021
Kamaru Usman fought back tears on Saturday after overcoming Joaquin Buckley in Atlanta, a result that marked his first UFC win since 2021. Usman, who retained the welterweight title five times during a three-year reign, used his wrestling prowess to dominate Buckley for four rounds, before surviving a fifth-round scare to earn a unanimous-decision win. Advertisement The scorecards read 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 in Usman's favour, as the Nigerian-American snapped a three-fight losing streak. In doing so, he also broke Buckley's six-fight winning run. Usman had last scored a victory in November 2021, outpointing old rival Colby Covington in his final successful title defence. Then, in August 2022, he was en route to a comfortable decision win over Leon Edwards before succumbing to a dramatic, late knockout. Usman, who previously outpointed Edwards in 2015, lost their trilogy bout on points in 2023, failing to regain the 170lb title. Then, in October 2023, he stepped in to face the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev on short notice. In what was Usman's middleweight debut, he performed admirably but lost via decision. Usman, 38, returned to welterweight to face the in-form Buckley on Saturday (14 June), where he defied his doubters with an impressive performance, which gave way to an emotional post-fight interview. Advertisement 'It feels good,' he said in the cage. 'It's been a while, I needed to get that monkey off my back. I know I'm still able to do this at the highest level. Sometimes when you're going up against a young, hungry guy like that – very talented, very aggressive – you've got to pull out the skills and use the experience. Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (Getty Images) 'That's what I did tonight. I expected him to be really, really tough, which he was. I know what it takes to work and get up in here. Thank you to him for bringing everything that he brought. 'I know it's a running joke, everybody wants to get on the internet and talk s***: 'Oh, his knees, his knees [are done]!' Well, shut the f*** up. I can still do what I do. The rest of the welterweight division, listen: I have been and always will be the f*****g boogeyman.' Advertisement 'I can do that to anybody, any one of them. Those knockouts will come, I just needed this monkey off my back. Next one, whoever it is for that title, I'll see about you.' An emotional Usman also referenced his daughter's absence from the Fight Night, saying: 'Before I go, I just wanted to say that I have a lot of emotions coming into this one [...] a lot of things that I had to battle back from. I'm holding back all the emotions. 'Unfortunately, my daughter can't be here with me tonight. That's another long story. But man, I just want to say thank you to everybody – thank you to my family, my coaches who kept me going, Buckley for bringing the challenge.' Jaoquin Buckley must go back to the drawing board (Getty) Jack Della Maddalena, the reigning welterweight champion, is due to defend the belt later this year against Islam Makhachev, who recently vacated the lightweight strap. 'JDM' won the belt in May by outpointing Belal Muhammad, who is now calling for a fight with Usman, but the 'Nigerian Nightmare' has insisted he only wants a title shot next.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Israel Adesanya ‘not a real fighter', says Joaquin Buckley after detailing run-in with UFC star
Joaquin Buckley has accused Israel Adesanya of not being a 'real fighter', after the UFC stars offered their respective accounts on a run-in between them. After Buckley suffered a one-sided decision loss to Kamaru Usman on Saturday (14 June), the latter's friend Adesanya hit out at Buckley, saying on his YouTube channel: 'I hate [him], bro. I don't even use the word 'hate' lightly, but I hate [him], bro. Advertisement 'Something about him just f*****g annoys me. The coolest thing about him is that kick [Buckley's 2020 knockout of Impa Kasanganay]. I respect that.' Then, describing a moment in which he met Buckley at the UFC Performance Institute, the former two-time middleweight champion said: 'Literally, I'm just trying to chill, talk. [He says:] 'Hey, man, we've gotta get this going, duh duh duh duh duh duh,' like he's rapping. 'Every single time. He's just so f*****g annoying. At one point, I literally walked away while he was talking... and I think he didn't like that, so he went against me since then. But f*** the dude. Maybe I'm a hater, bro, maybe I'm just a hater.' Welterweight Buckley then used his own YouTube channel to fire back at Adesanya, saying on Thursday (19 June): 'He knows what it is to take an L, but to say that you hate a motherf***** and you're glad that they lost, you're glad that they didn't achieve their dreams is wild to me, bro. Advertisement 'Like, bro, why the f*** you mad at me? What the f*** did I do to you? I kind of find it funny that you're hating on me, you need to be hating on the motherf****** that took your belt. Jaoquin Buckley must go back to the drawing board after losing to Kamaru Usman (Getty) 'He's trying to be funny, he's trying to use his platform to talk s*** on me, but that really just shows me the potential of my name, and how big I'm becoming. Just like when I met his ass at the [Performance Institute], and I ran up on him and was like, 'Hey, bro, I think we'd be a good-ass fight, [Adesanya] was quiet at the time. 'But see, I'm man enough to come up to your face. Tell me how you feel to my face, bro [...] You're all underneath the covers like: 'Man, I hate that [guy].' You ain't no real fighter. You want to be a little pretty boy.' Advertisement American Buckley, 31, appeared to be closing in on a welterweight title shot before his loss to Usman, a former champion in the division. Meanwhile, Adesanya, 35, finds himself in the unusual position of riding a three-fight losing streak. After regaining the middleweight title from old rival Alex Pereira in April 2023, the 'Last Stylebender' lost the belt to Sean Strickland that September. Then, last August, Adesanya suffered a submission loss to Strickland's successor Dricus Du Plessis. The Nigerian-born New Zealander attempted to bounce back against Nassourdine Imavov in February, but he was stopped in round two. Israel Adesanya (right) during his 2024 loss to Dricus Du Plessis (Getty Images) Adesanya's first reign with the belt lasted three years and featured five successful title defences, with those same numbers applying to Usman's welterweight title run. Advertisement After surviving a difficult fifth round to outpoint Buckley, Usman, who had employed his trademark wrestling impressively in the first four frames, held back tears in the cage. 'It's been a while,' he said. 'I needed to get that monkey off my back. I know I'm still able to do this at the highest level. Sometimes when you're going up against a young, hungry guy like that – very talented, very aggressive – you've got to pull out the skills and use the experience. 'Before I go, I just wanted to say that I have a lot of emotions coming into this one [...] a lot of things that I had to battle back from. I'm holding back all the emotions. Unfortunately, my daughter can't be here with me tonight. That's another long story. But man, I just want to say thank you to everybody – thank you to my family, my coaches who kept me going, Buckley for bringing the challenge.'
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Israel Adesanya ‘not a real fighter', says Joaquin Buckley after detailing run-in with UFC star
Joaquin Buckley has accused Israel Adesanya of not being a 'real fighter', after the UFC stars offered their respective accounts on a run-in between them. After Buckley suffered a one-sided decision loss to Kamaru Usman on Saturday (14 June), the latter's friend Adesanya hit out at Buckley, saying on his YouTube channel: 'I hate [him], bro. I don't even use the word 'hate' lightly, but I hate [him], bro. 'Something about him just f*****g annoys me. The coolest thing about him is that kick [Buckley's 2020 knockout of Impa Kasanganay]. I respect that.' Then, describing a moment in which he met Buckley at the UFC Performance Institute, the former two-time middleweight champion said: 'Literally, I'm just trying to chill, talk. [He says:] 'Hey, man, we've gotta get this going, duh duh duh duh duh duh,' like he's rapping. 'Every single time. He's just so f*****g annoying. At one point, I literally walked away while he was talking... and I think he didn't like that, so he went against me since then. But f*** the dude. Maybe I'm a hater, bro, maybe I'm just a hater.' Welterweight Buckley then used his own YouTube channel to fire back at Adesanya, saying on Thursday (19 June): 'He knows what it is to take an L, but to say that you hate a motherf***** and you're glad that they lost, you're glad that they didn't achieve their dreams is wild to me, bro. 'Like, bro, why the f*** you mad at me? What the f*** did I do to you? I kind of find it funny that you're hating on me, you need to be hating on the motherf****** that took your belt. 'He's trying to be funny, he's trying to use his platform to talk s*** on me, but that really just shows me the potential of my name, and how big I'm becoming. Just like when I met his ass at the [Performance Institute], and I ran up on him and was like, 'Hey, bro, I think we'd be a good-ass fight, [Adesanya] was quiet at the time. 'But see, I'm man enough to come up to your face. Tell me how you feel to my face, bro [...] You're all underneath the covers like: 'Man, I hate that [guy].' You ain't no real fighter. You want to be a little pretty boy.' American Buckley, 31, appeared to be closing in on a welterweight title shot before his loss to Usman, a former champion in the division. Meanwhile, Adesanya, 35, finds himself in the unusual position of riding a three-fight losing streak. After regaining the middleweight title from old rival Alex Pereira in April 2023, the 'Last Stylebender' lost the belt to Sean Strickland that September. Then, last August, Adesanya suffered a submission loss to Strickland's successor Dricus Du Plessis. The Nigerian-born New Zealander attempted to bounce back against Nassourdine Imavov in February, but he was stopped in round two. Adesanya's first reign with the belt lasted three years and featured five successful title defences, with those same numbers applying to Usman's welterweight title run. After surviving a difficult fifth round to outpoint Buckley, Usman, who had employed his trademark wrestling impressively in the first four frames, held back tears in the cage. 'It's been a while,' he said. 'I needed to get that monkey off my back. I know I'm still able to do this at the highest level. Sometimes when you're going up against a young, hungry guy like that – very talented, very aggressive – you've got to pull out the skills and use the experience. 'Before I go, I just wanted to say that I have a lot of emotions coming into this one [...] a lot of things that I had to battle back from. I'm holding back all the emotions. Unfortunately, my daughter can't be here with me tonight. That's another long story. But man, I just want to say thank you to everybody – thank you to my family, my coaches who kept me going, Buckley for bringing the challenge.'
USA Today
18-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Daniel Cormier remains high on Joaquin Buckley after UFC Atlanta loss to Kamaru Usman
Daniel Cormier remains high on Joaquin Buckley after UFC Atlanta loss to Kamaru Usman Show Caption Hide Caption Who's next for Joaquin Buckley after Kamaru Usman loss? MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn plays matchmaker and looks ahead to what makes sense for Joaquin Buckley Daniel Cormier only sees positive things for Joaquin Buckley after he suffered his first loss at welterweight in the UFC. Buckley (22-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC) saw his six-fight winning streak snapped when he dropped a unanimous decision to former champion Kamaru Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) in this past Saturday's UFC on ESPN 69 headliner at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Despite the loss, Cormier thinks Buckley's stock remains high. He credits him for never giving up throughout the fight after getting stifled on the ground for a good portion of it. "He's brash, he's loud, and he was annoying, but now he seems to be doing the right things," Cormier said on "Good Guy/Bad Guy" with Chael Sonnen. "And guess what? He can fight a lot, and this dude is in shape. That was probably the most impressive thing to me was that, after going through that, going through as hard of a fight as he had, and he was able to still fight at the rate that he fought. In that fifth round, that was crazy impressive to me watching Joaquin Buckley." Cormier is confident that if Buckley can fine tune his takedown defense, he'll be a major threat at 170 pounds. "I was very impressed with Joaquin Buckley," Cormier said. "And in very few cases, a guy comes out better after he loses. I feel like that's what we're looking at with Joaquin Buckley because I think he fought well. He was very brave in the fifth round, he showed that he can go 25 minutes with one of the best fighters in the world. He just looked like he belonged. ... If Joaquin Buckley can pick up a couple of those little details where he's not getting taken down, he's going to be a real problem for anyone in that weight class, and I feel like Joaquin Buckley after Saturday is honestly better off even if he lost the fight."
USA Today
18-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, June 17: Former champs on the rise
MMA Junkie Staff USA TODAY Sports The UFC's trip to Atlanta saw two former champions pick up key victories. In the main event of UFC on ESPN 69, Kamaru Usman turned back the clock for a dominant display against a surging Joaquin Buckley. Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) survived a final-round surge from Buckley (21-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC) to win an otherwise smothering performance reminiscent of his championship days. In the co-feature, former women's strawweight champ Rose Namajunas (14-7 MMA, 12-6 UFC) picked up a unanimous decision win over Miranda Maverick (15-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC). Both former champions returned to the win column and, as a result, move up spots in their respective divisions in this week's update. Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
