Joaquin Buckley sat through an entire post-weigh-in interview in Edmonton on Friday night without speaking. After he hit the scale and squared off with Mike Malott one last time, Buckley met UFC correspondent McKenzie Pavacich for the usual fight-eve questions. He answered none of them. UFC on Paramount+ posted the clip on X under the caption “JOAQUIN BUCKLEY IS LOCKED IN,” adding that he didn’t say a single word, and the reaction took off from there.
Pavacich, to her credit, kept going. She opened by reminding him of something he’d said earlier in the week: “Well, Joaquin, you said it yourself, Fight Week is a celebration of all the hard work. You are so locked in right now. How have the celebrations been this week?” Nothing. She rolled with it (“All right, I think that says more than any words could”) and moved on to his third UFC main event, the crowd, and comments he’d made during the week about being able to connect with people all over the world. Still nothing. Eventually she called it. “This might be a first for me, guys,” she said, before wishing him luck and sending it back to the desk.
The interview didn’t land in a vacuum. According to Yahoo Sports, Buckley had already refused to shake Dana White’s hand on stage, so the silence read to a lot of people as part of a pattern. Fans called him a “clown,” accused him of borrowing from Gable Steveson or Jon Jones, and generally labeled the whole bit corny. Yahoo’s own writeup called it disrespectful and played out, while allowing that fighters do whatever they need to get into their zone, and argued that Buckley now needs a quick knockout or the memes will never stop.
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The fight itself headlines UFC Fight Night 291 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, a welterweight main event between Buckley and Malott on Saturday, Oct. 17. Prelims start at 5 p.m. ET, and the main card begins at 8 p.m. ET with a lightweight bout between Nate Landwehr and Mandel Nallo.
I don’t much care whether a fighter wants to talk on Friday night. Plenty of guys go quiet the day before a fight, and that’s their business. What makes this one awkward is the setup. Pavacich built her first question around Buckley’s own line that fight week is a celebration, then asked him about connecting with people everywhere, and he gave her a blank wall on camera. She did her job cleanly and got left holding the mic. If Buckley wanted to be left alone, a polite word about saving it for tomorrow costs four seconds. Instead he handed the internet a free clip, and the only thing that changes how it ages is what happens when he and Malott meet in the Rogers Place cage on Saturday night.
