Dana White wants everyone to relax about Joaquin Buckley. Mostly.
Asked at the UFC Edmonton post-fight press conference whether Buckley’s refusal to shake his hand at the ceremonial weigh-ins bothered him, White went for the bit first. “As soon as he lost, I told Hunter to cut him,” he said, per video posted by Happy Punch on X. Then he laughed. “I’m f*cking joking,” White added, and as EssentiallySports reported, he followed it with “I have no problems with Joaquin Buckley.”
White also said fighters handle fight week their own way. “However you’re dealing with fight week is your business and your deal, and yeah, it’s all good,” he said.
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That should end the chatter that Buckley had picked a fight with the wrong guy. He’d given people plenty to chew on. Besides leaving White’s hand in the air, the 32-year-old sat through an official UFC interview without saying a word, staring straight into the camera. Some fans read it as a guy locking into fight mode. Others wondered why you’d snub the man who signs the checks.
The fight went worse than the handshake
Buckley came into the main event as the No. 8-ranked welterweight, trying to stop a skid after losses to Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady. No. 11 Mike Malott, fighting in front of his home crowd, made it three straight. Malott landed a counter right hand, then a knee to the face that sent Buckley’s mouthpiece across the Octagon. Buckley went down face-first and the referee stepped in.
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That knockout has people digging up an old Dana White habit. Before UFC 84, Tito Ortiz showed up to weigh-ins in a shirt insulting White during a contract fight with the promotion, and after Lyoto Machida beat Ortiz by unanimous decision, White said he “actually wrote (Machida) a personal check.” Machida later told MMAFighting.com, “I felt like a hitman getting money from the boss, but it was cool.” There’s zero confirmation anything like that is coming Malott’s way, so file it under bar talk.
Buckley’s other options
If White had been serious, Buckley had already floated a plan B. Before the fight, he told Full Send MMA, “I would love the opportunity to do other things outside of MMA,” naming Dirty Boxing, Karate Combat and Zuffa Boxing as places he could cash in on his hands and kicks without worrying about takedowns. He’s already wandered off the reservation once: in August he wrestled former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in a freestyle match at RAF 12 and lost on points.
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My take: White’s joke landed better than anything Buckley did all week. The silent-stare routine works if you walk out with your arm raised, and it looks a lot sillier when your mouthpiece is the last thing anyone sees of you. Buckley doesn’t have a Dana problem. He has a three-fight losing streak in a stacked division, and a striker with his power who wants to go punch people in Zuffa Boxing might find the boss more receptive than he’d expect, as long as he shakes his hand first.
