(Video) Joaquin Buckley Unlocks New Gimmick and Snubs Handshake With Dana White Ahead of UFC Edmonton

Welterweight contender, Joaquin Buckley, showcased a focused version of himself as Dana White's handshake attempt goes in vain.

(Video) Joaquin Buckley Unlocks New Gimmick and Snubs Handshake With Dana White Ahead of UFC Edmonton

Joaquin Buckley with Dana White and Mike Malott (Image via UFC X Account)

Welterweight contenders Joaquin Buckley and Mike Malott headlines the upcoming UFC Edmonton card in Canada. Ahead of their ceremonial weigh-in faceoff, Buckley ignored a handshake from Dana White that caught the UFC CEO off-guard.

The incident went viral online, but White took the unexpected incident in stride. Soon after, Buckley remained silent while his cornerman talked trash to his opponent. Meanwhile, Malott raised the Canadian flag with full confidence to end the faceoff segment.

This is the promotion’s first visit to Edmonton since Brandon Moreno headlined a fight night card against Amir Albazi back in 2024. Back then, Malott opened up the main card. Now, he has become the main event attraction in his country following four straight victories.

Malott has not lost since his last-minute TKO loss to Neil Magny at UFC 297 in January 2024. The Canadian star admitted that he was almost on the verge of tears back then. However, he rebounded with victories over Trevin Giles, Charles Radtke, Kevin Holland and Gilbert Burns.

Meanwhile, Buckley has not won a fight since 2024 when he defeated Colby Covington after the doctor stopped the bout. Kamaru Usman dominated him in 2025 at UFC Atlanta and Sean Brady outwrestled him for three rounds at UFC 328 this year.

Back in 2024, Buckley had a six-fight winning streak and intended to one day challenge for the title. With the new ‘locked in’ gimmick, Buckley will aim to snap his losing streak against Malott as the outsider at UFC Edmonton.

Later, McKenzie Pavacich interviewed Joaquin Buckley for UFC on Paramount+ social media channel. Pavacich asked a lot of questions to Buckley, including his confidence level for his third UFC main event and the crowd reactions in Canada.

Buckley didn’t answer a single question while looking at the cameras. The interviewer admitted that it was the first time somebody didn’t answer questions and wished best of luck to Buckley before ending the segment.

MMA fans are unforgiving when a fighter flops hard after debuting a new gimmick. As such, Buckley has a lot more on the line at UFC Edmonton when he faces the Canadian contender.

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Joaquin Buckley questions why he didn’t get a title shot after winning six straight fights

Buckley is someone who will question the authority whenever things doesn’t go his way. After winning six straight fights, he hoped to enter the title picture in the welterweight division. However, he was booked to face Usman and Jack Della Maddalena got the title shot that year.

Joaquin Buckley questions why he didn't get a title shot
Joaquin Buckley questions why he didn’t get a title shot (Image via UFC X Account/Yahoo Sports)

Ahead of UFC Edmonton, Brian Campbell interviewed ‘New Mansa.’ The interviewer asked about UFC 330 main event involving Islam Makhachev and Ian Machado Garry. Buckley has beef with both of them and issued multiple callouts to the duo.

Makhachev vs Garry was a lackluster title fight apart from a second-round knockdown that the champion landed. Buckley didn’t answer the interviewer’s question, but talked about his winning streak and why that didn’t get him a title shot back then.

Even though I lost both my fights back-to-back I feel like I could have had an opportunity a long time ago to fight for that title you know and we’d be talking about something different… I was fighting. I was winning. I was knocking people out. I would really like to know why I didn’t get the shot over JDM.

Joaquin Buckley via UFC on Paramount+

The incident in question was when JDM got the title shot to face then-champion Belal Muhammad at UFC 315. Back then, top contender Shavkat Rakhmonov got injured and JDM was given the title shot.

At that time, JDM hadn’t fought since March of 2024 whereas Buckley fought four times in 2024 alone. As such, ‘New Mansa’ felt that he deserved the title shot. It remains to be seen if the Missouri native can reach back to those levels and one day challenge for the title.

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