Joaquin Buckley stood across from Mike Malott for the ceremonial faceoffs at UFC Edmonton on Friday. When Dana White stuck his hand out, Buckley acted like it wasn’t there. The UFC CEO’s handshake went unreturned while Buckley kept his eyes fixed on his opponent, and the clip moved fast. Championship Rounds posted the moment on X, saying Buckley was “LOCKED IN” and that he ignored White’s handshake. Happy Punch followed with a separate clip of White’s reaction to getting left hanging, and that’s the version that really got passed around.
Buckley didn’t warm up once the cameras moved backstage. Championship Rounds reported that he refused to answer any questions after the weigh-ins, and a thread on r/MMA described him ignoring every interview question from the reporter at his scrum. Nothing in the posts or the footage points to an actual problem between Buckley and White. This reads like a guy who had mentally checked out of fight week and into the fight, and he didn’t feel like pretending otherwise for a microphone.
Buckley vs. Malott is the Edmonton headliner, so the faceoff was the last big promotional beat before the cage door closes. Buckley apparently decided the promotional part of his week was finished a little early.
View post on X
It has been a busy few days for White clips in general. Earlier this week Championship Rounds also posted his reaction to being offered $20 million to fight Eddie Hearn, which is a sentence I never expected to type. White has also been teasing the start of 2027. Asked whether Michael Morales vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov is in the works, he said: “Could be. We actually have a lot of cool stuff going on right now. We got a lot of good announcements coming. We’re going to have a good January/February.” Spinnin Backfist passed the same comments along on X. Whatever White has planned for those months, headlining in Edmonton and winning is how a fighter gets his name into the conversation when the announcements start dropping.
View post on X
My quick take, from a man who has lost real money on staredowns: a skipped handshake is worth zero at the betting window. I once backed a guy because he looked like he wanted to eat his opponent at the faceoff, and he was out of gas and out of the fight before I finished my beer. Intensity on Friday doesn’t land punches on Saturday. If you’re tempted to move money because Buckley looked scary next to the boss, don’t. Look at the matchup, look at the price, and ignore the theater. Buckley clearly agrees with me on one point, since he’s saving all his talking for the Edmonton main event.
View post on X
