Joaquin Buckley has one more walk to the Octagon left in him, and then he’s done. The welterweight contender announced Thursday that his next UFC fight will be the final appearance of his MMA career. The voice that finally got through to him belonged to his grandmother.
The clip came via @Newmansa94 and was posted by Championship Rounds on X, and r/MMA picked it up within minutes. Buckley didn’t dress it up:
“[My grandma] told me to retire and get away from fighting. I took some time, I slept on it, and I realized that my grandmother is right.”
View post on X
He also made clear he’s going out swinging: “I gotta save myself from anymore damage. This is the last one, but we gonna make our last one the best one.”
How We Got Here
The timing tracks. Buckley has dropped three straight, and the latest one hurt. Last Saturday at Rogers Place, Mike Malott knocked him out in the UFC Edmonton main event, landing a shot that Cageside Press noted looked like a kick and turned out to be a knee. On paper, Malott’s path ran through takedowns and grappling, and Buckley was supposed to own the striking. Instead the Canadian found his signature moment on the feet against the guy who was supposed to be the more dangerous striker.
The twist of the knife: Cageside compared Malott’s finish to Buckley’s own career-defining highlight, the two-touch spin kick on Impa Kasanganay that won 2020 Knockout of the Year. Few fighters own a clip that famous. Buckley does, and now someone else’s knockout of him is getting mentioned in the same breath.
The rankings fallout was swift. In MMA Mania’s Meta Rankings, Buckley slid four spots to No. 12 at welterweight. Malott, now riding five straight wins and two straight knockouts, climbed three spots to No. 8. Argentine broadcaster Gaston “Tonga” Reyno piled on over on X, calling the loss a lesson in humility for Buckley and writing in Spanish that pride puts you on a pedestal and reality takes care of pulling you down.
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No opponent, date or event for the farewell fight has been reported yet.
My take: listen to Grandma. This sport is littered with guys who needed a relative, a doctor or a commission to tell them it was over, and most of them heard it two or three knockouts too late. Buckley heard it after three losses and actually slept on it, which is more self-awareness than half the roster shows at a press conference. Now the UFC owes him a proper sendoff. Give him a striker who wants to stand in the pocket and trade, put him on a card with a loud crowd, and let the spin-kick guy throw everything he’s got one last time. Matching him with a wrestler who blankets him for 15 minutes would be a crime against the farewell tour, and Grandma would never forgive them.
