Joaquin Buckley prays to ‘MMA Gods’ looking forward to real-life encounter with Daniel Cormier

Joaquin Buckley pledges 'no beef' with Daniel Cormier if and when they meet at UFC 307 pay-per-view (PPV) fight week interviews.

Joaquin Buckley prays to ‘MMA Gods’ looking forward to real-life encounter with Daniel Cormier

Joaquin Buckley prays to end his dispute with Daniel Cormier at UFC 307 (Source: IMAGO)

UFC makes a habit of bringing big fights and bigger bucks to the mountains when it lands in Utah. Such will also be the case at UFC 307 next. Joaquin Buckley, who is going strong at welterweight, is looking to make a name for himself on the card. At this stage in his career, he would’ve longed for some guidance. Guidance that veteran Daniel Cormier did not give him. To that end, ‘New Mansa’ tears into the old fighter for it.

This past UFC St. Louis event (UFC on ESPN 56), Buckley dominated Nursulton Ruziboev to continue his 4-0 unbeaten streak since dropping one down to the 170-pound mark. Afterward, he made a rather high-spirited call to one then-returning Conor McGregor. As post-fight panelists Daniel Cormier, Chael Sonnen, and Michael Bisping said the callout wasn’t realistic and hence fell flat. He slammed them personally for it which ‘DC’ made subsequent replies to. 

I've praying to the MMA gods that I run into 'DC'…Uh, I'm the type of person, man…uh, I am a fan of Daniel Cormier. All the things he has done…from Strikeforce, to you know, coming into the UFC and dominating, and end up winning two straps…but for me, the thing that I'm trying to do, I feel like DC could've helped me with trying to go where I'm trying to go instead of trying to diminish me or break me down.
Joaquin Buckley in a drive-by Live interview for MMAFighting on SBN

Now, Buckley, 30, wishes to resolve the dispute. Buckley didn’t take kindly when Cormier billed it as the worst callout in history. He then again went to tout beating welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre and also challenged the currently undefeated fighter Shavkat Rakhmonov. While out of pocket, dashing callouts are nothing that aspiring fighters haven’t done before. The Team Murcielago MMA striker wished he got some pointers rather than straight-up criticism.

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Since Cormier has such a huge audience as one of the main voices for major UFC broadcasts, Joaquin Buckley’s biggest problem is being shut out or put a negative spin on. Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier is a 2x US Olympian, two-time NJCAA and two-time Pan American champ, and even a StrikeForce HWY Grand Prix Champ. Although they do not see eye-to-eye, ‘New Mansa’ respects him and says he won’t beef with him at UFC 307 fighter check-ins.

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Joaquin Buckley isn’t looking forward to a physical altercation with Daniel Cormier

It was a given that Conor McGregor was making a welterweight return at the UFC 303 pay-per-view (PPV) headliner. While he remains a consensus buyout king, this would have ended a long three-year layoff. Hence, he necessarily did not have any stats or ranking to his name while making a return. Joaquin Buckley went into overdrive and insulted the whole McGregor bloodline to make his point and call him out.

Joaquin Buckley vows no confrontation with Daniel Cormier over social media barbs
Joaquin Buckley vows no confrontation with Daniel Cormier over social media barbs (Source: X/express.co.uk)

While McGregor did not return, it started quite the animosity with Daniel Cormier. During one of his latest ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ Show episodes for @ESPNMMA with Chael Sonnen, he billed it as the worst callout. Buckley ripped him with quite the expletive parental innuendos. Cormier’s mother, Audrey, passed away in February 2022; hence he tore into him with his own set of expletives on X. While initially upset, Buckley explained he does want to put it to bed, but won’t lash out at him.

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...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.
Joaquin Buckley to MMAFighting on SBN

When they meet in Utah, Buckley claims he’s not holding a grudge or just waiting to unload. Buckley says he highly doubts ‘DC’ would get physical at the UFC 307 pre-fight fighter check-ins either. Hence, the welterweight isn’t stressing much about a potential face-to-face.

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