It appears James Krause really doesn’t like Joaquin Buckley.
Every since Buckley broke the internet with his spinning kick knockout of Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Island 5 he has been the toast of fight town, with UFC Pres. Dana White among his celebrants. However, all that attention hasn’t swayed Krause’s opinion.
After his own Fight Island win, over Claudio Silva earlier this month, Krause shared that he and Buckley—both of whom live around St. Louis, MO—have crossed paths before, in a less than harmonious manner.
The 36-fight veteran recently spoke to Cole Shelton of bjpenn.com where he added more details regarding the roots of their feud. Krause also added more fuel to the fire, calling out the now-viral Buckley.
“He messaged me about six weeks ago and asked to come train at my gym and I said no,” reported Krause. “He didn’t like that and got lippy with me so I got lippy back.”
“He has been kicked out of every gym in St. Louis because he is an asshole,” continued Krause. “Nobody wants to train with him. All he does is try and hurt his training partners, all he does is fight, he doesn’t want to get better, he doesn’t want to learn. Right there, that rules him out for me. I have 35 people on my mat this morning, we are good. I don’t need more people, he called me not the other way around. He is training with like four or five guys, I don’t need help we got a good team. He needs my team, not the other way around.”
Krause said during his direct communication with Buckley, the young fighter invited him to spar. Krause said he rejected the offer, saying he only spars with people on his team. Krause claimed that Buckley responded to this by accusing Krause of being scared.
“Like, I’ve been in the UFC longer than you have been fighting, get the fuck out of here with that nonsense. I don’t like his attitude, I think his attitude sucks and I don’t want it in my gym. I don’t like him and he doesn’t like me.”
Despite Krause primarily fighting at welterweight, the TUF veteran said he would gladly move up to middleweight to take a fight with Buckley.
“Let’s go. Send me a contract. I’ll beat the shit out of that kid.”
Krause first appeared in a ZUFFA-owned cage back in 2012, as an entrant for The Ultimate Fighter: Live. Krause’s only fight on that show was a loss to Justin Lawrence in the early elimination stage.
A year later Krause made his pro UFC debut, at UFC 161, versus Sam Stout. As an underdog Krause surprised and submitted Stout with a guillotine to earn Submission and Fight of the Night honours.
Krause has been with the company ever since, competing 13 times in total and appearing on 2017’s TUF: Redemption were he made it to the semi-finals.
Against Silva two weeks ago, Krause took a unanimous decision victory, but suffered a serious injury to his knee in the process. The injury may force Krause onto the sidelines for over a year.
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