Joaquin Buckley has his sights set on a showdown with the newest addition to the UFC welterweight division: Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) recently vacated the UFC lightweight title he had held since 2022 and announced his intention to move up to 170 pounds in pursuit of becoming a two-division world champion. While nothing has been officially confirmed, UFC President Dana White has stated that Makhachev is likely to receive an immediate title shot against newly crowned welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC), who recently dethroned Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 315.
Meanwhile, Buckley (21-6 MMA, 11-4 UFC)—who is set to face former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in the main event of UFC Atlanta next month—has been campaigning for a future matchup with Makhachev, arguing that his style presents a nightmare matchup for the current pound-for-pound king.
“Even though me and Islam have never had a connection, I'll tell you right now, he's going to know a lot about me if we ever get booked to fight”, Buckley said this week during an interview with Parry Punch. “And not only that, don't get it twisted. The people that he has struggled with and the people that have shown a couple holes in his game? I'm going to be his worst nightmare. Not JDM. JDM has a lot of holes that Islam can exploit. And we didn't see that with the Gilbert Burns fight. Actually, we didn't see any with several fights from JDM, right? That's what I've been seeing.
“But with me, though, and what I did to Colby (Covington) and what I'm going to do to Kamaru Usman, Islam is going to be in his head. Even (Makhachev’s coach) Khabib (Nurmagomedov) is probably going to tell his ass, ‘maybe moving up ain't a good idea’. I bet you. But I'm hunting for that. I want that pound for pound.”
Buckley competed in the UFC middleweight division from 2020 to 2022, compiling a 5-4 record during that stretch. However, since dropping down to 170 pounds just over two years ago, “New Mansa” has won six straight fights and now holds the No. 7 spot in the UFC welterweight rankings.
