Joaquin Buckley earned a statement win in front of his hometown fans at UFC St. Louis and was only minutes away from having the perfect fight week.
Former UFC champion Michael Bisping was on cageside commentary for Joaquin Buckley’s big win last night in St. Louis, and whilst ‘The Count’ did celebrate an outstanding performance from the hometown favorite, he also slammed ‘New Mansa’ for going “too far” in his post-fight interview.
Joaquin Buckley raises the roof with homecoming victory at UFC St. Louis
In the co-main event of UFC St. Louis last night, Joaquin Buckley put on a clinic as he earned a unanimous decision victory over surging contender Nursulton Ruziboev.
Despite the sizable disadvantage in reach against the 6’5” Ruziboev, ‘New Mansa’ was able to sting the Uzbek fighter on the feet before landing beautifully timed takedowns throughout each round; ultimately making the contest appear much easier than it otherwise should have.
Whilst Buckley’s performance certainly solidifies his place as a Top 15 ranked welterweight, the night was somewhat stained by a rather bizarre callout in his post-fight interview; one that has been slammed by fan-favorite fighter-turned-commentator Michael Bisping.
Michael Bisping reacts to Buckey’s performance and strange post-fight interview
Bisping wasted no time in sharing his reaction to UFC St. Louis on his official YouTube channel, in which he hailed Buckley for not only the performance against Ruziboev but for how he had been conducting himself during the build-up.
“Take a bow, this man is a star; he’s got so much charisma and let me tell you, Buckley owned fight week.”
“Buckley was talking like he [Ruziboev] was no threat, and I was concerned for him, I thought you’re taking this too lightly and not recognizing the threat.”
Bisping noted that whilst there was “potential for a great downfall because you’re the man representing St. Louis,” as soon as the cage door locked behind him, Buckley proved good on his promise to deliver a show for his hometown faithful:
“He showed no signs of being under pressure, he showed no signs of being outskilled – in fact he was the better fighter from start to finish. Just a fantastic performance, a fantastic fight week, his star shot through the roof… And then he went too far.”
In truth, ‘New Mansa’ was perhaps only a few minutes away from the perfect week as during the post-fight interview with ‘The Count’, Buckley opted not to call for a fight against someone in and around his UFC ranking, but the biggest star in the sport, Conor McGregor.
Given both the unlikely nature of ever getting a fight with ‘Notorious’ and the low-hanging nature of the callout, in which Buckley went after McGregor’s family, Bisping wasn’t happy with how the interview played out:
“Not the best call out, I’m not talking s*** but that fight with Conor McGregor is never going to happen so you could say that he wasted a callout and then on top of that, then he went too far.”
“He’s trying to be insulting and give McGregor a reason to want to fight him, he was calling his mom and grandma a h** basically – I like a bit of s*** talk and then when he went that far, I’m like s***.”
The former middleweight champion revealed that he was “waiting for the right opportunity to kill the interview,” before noting that the callout likely wasn’t anything intentionally malicious, only that Buckley perhaps got swept up in the moment:
“I think it was just in the moment with the adrenaline, with the big win, with his home crowd he probably thought it was being funny, but I don’t think anyone particularly enjoyed that one.”
“A great win over a tough opponent, he’s got massive amounts of charisma and ridiculous knockout power, very athletic and a bright future – should have called out someone realistic though.”
With the victory, Buckley moved to 19-6 as a professional and is now riding a four-fight winning streak.