Joaquin Buckley returns at UFC 307 against Stephen Thompson, but his most interesting interaction that week may actually happen when he runs into Daniel Cormier.
Back in May, Buckley scored a unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev in front of a hometown crowd in St. Louis. Afterward, he decided to use his post-fight interview to call out UFC superstar Conor McGregor rather than anybody ahead of him in the welterweight rankings. Cormier was one of many within the MMA community to skewer the decision as a waste Buckley’s microphone time, especially with UFC CEO Dana White emphatically shutting down the request just minutes later at the post-fight press conference.
That led to Buckley firing a shot at Cormier and other commentators for criticizing him, proclaiming, “Ya mommas raised some hoes.” Cormier then unleashed an expletive filled tirade aimed at Buckley for daring to mention his mother, who died in 2022.
Months have passed since the altercation, but Buckley finally has a chance to see Cormier in person when he fights in Salt Lake City, as the Hall of Famer and former two-division UFC champion is expected to serve as part of the broadcast team for UFC 307.
“I’ve been praying to the MMA gods that I run into DC,” Buckley told MMA Fighting. “I’m the type [of] person, I’m a fan of Daniel Cormier and all the things that he’s done in his MMA career. If you’re talking about from Strikeforce to coming into the UFC and dominating and end up winning two straps in the UFC, because of how difficult that is and holding them simultaneously at one time, I’ve got to respect it.
“But at the end of the day, it’s like as fighters, I believe that for me, the things that I’m trying to do, I feel like DC could have helped me with trying to go where I’m trying to go instead of trying to diminish me or break me down.”
Buckley says his biggest issue with Cormier came down to the decision to criticize his callout rather than praise what Buckley did well in the fight, which counted as his fourth win in a row since moving to the welterweight division.
Because Cormier has such a massive audience as one of the primary voices for major UFC broadcasts, he commands a lot of attention whenever he says anything. That’s why Buckley was initially upset at Cormier in the aftermath of his win.
“Somebody like him has such a massive voice and a massive platform, any negative thing that he puts out there on me, there’s a lot of fans that are going to have backlash on me and not kind of see my point of view,” Buckley said. “Because he knew where I was coming from, but regardless, he went to a different direction and took it. That was his choice.”
During fight week, the athletes competing on a card typically sit down for a meeting with the broadcast team to discuss training, preparation, and the upcoming battle ahead.
Those encounters have led to some interesting discussions in the past, but Buckley isn’t looking to start trouble with Cormier just because they exchanged words over social media.
That said, the 30-year-old contender welcomes the chance to get in some time with Cormier on the mats, but not in some confrontational way as if he’s going to start throwing punches as soon as they lock eyes with each other.
“Now at the end of the day, we’re all fighters though, right?” Buckley said. “I will be blessed to get that work with DC because if I can’t really talk it out with you, then we can work it out. Does that make sense? I feel like me and DC, I would love to see DC, but it’s not on some personal [level] like, ‘As soon as I see DC, I’m fitting to swing on him.’ No, because I ain’t about that.
“If DC wants to make it like that, which I highly doubt, but at the end of the day, we can always get this work in as martial artists and hash it out.”
With his full focus on “Wonderboy” and the chance to take another step forward in his pursuit of UFC gold, Buckley isn’t stressing much about a potential encounter with Cormier, but he does hope they get a chance to talk.
Buckley maintains he’s not holding a grudge or just waiting for the chance to unload on Cormier when they run into each other in Utah. Instead, Buckley would love to turn a negative past with Cormier into a positive future.
“Ain’t no beef on my end,” Buckley said. “I like to [break] balls, too. My thing is, just like at the end of the day, we’re all just having fun, we’re all just talking stuff. But we can really figure this stuff out if there’s an issue or a misunderstanding.”
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