Joaquin Buckley believes he beat Vicente Luque before they even got in the cage together.
On Saturday night, Buckley earned the biggest win of his career by defeating Luque in the second round at UFC Atlantic City. The victory marks Buckley's third consecutive win at welterweight and will all but guarantee his move up the UFC's weight division rankings.
talked about on Monday's episode MMA hourBuckley said he knew he would win before he even threw the first punch.
“I feel like Vicente quit there — a shortfall,” Buckley said. “He quit. He didn't want to be there in the first place. Before the fight started, he didn't want to be there. If you're a fighter, you can feel those things. . It's hard to explain. You have to go in there and find out.
“I knew it the moment I saw him. I knew it the moment I saw him at the weigh-in.”
For the first nine fights of his UFC career, Buckley fought at middleweight. Since moving back to 170 pounds last year, “New Mantha” is 3-0 and inching closer to a legitimate title threat.
When asked what has changed for the 29-year-old to do so well, he said it's simply a matter of fighting in the right weight class.
“I feel like what's different about me? Right now, I've been fighting in the weight class that I've been fighting in the longest,” Buckley said. “It's still me. It's still me, and it's still the same, but for me, I think people think there's a difference between being successful and being able to honestly showcase your talent and skill set. Actually, that's not true. I wasn't fighting in the right weight class for me at 185.”
Buckley added that part of the reason he moved to middleweight in the first place was because he struggled to find matches at 170 pounds. Now that he's a going concern at welterweight, I hope that issue doesn't arise and his next fight is scheduled soon.
After the win, Buckley was called up to headline the next UFC St. Louis card on May 11th. The card is currently headlined by a heavyweight bout between Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento, but Buckley believes he has a chance to take that top spot against the right opponent.
“That's just how I feel,” Buckley said. “If I get to fight in St. Louis, I want to make it worth it. I want to come back and put on a show at the highest level where I can be the main event. I want to be part of the show, not just be part of the show. I'm going to be the reason everyone comes to the event because I'm the reason. It's just a feeling.”
And when it comes to opponents, Buckley isn't too picky. He declined to name anyone specifically, but said he would be open to playing Luque's teammate at Kill Cliff FC, Gilbert Burns. As he pointed out, he has a lot of history with the Kill Cliff fighter and Burns, who is currently No. 6 welterweight in the UFC rankings.
“Actually, I love the idea of Gilbert Burns,” Buckley said. “Right now we're 3-1 against that team. The first guy on that team to beat me was Logan Story back in Bellator. He held me down for 15 minutes. [minutes]. Then he knocked out Impa Kasanganay, Andre Fialho, and now their boy Vicente. So now I’m 3-1 with them.”
