The majority of the fighting community, including Din Thomas and Daniel Cormier, predicted that Joaquin Buckley would win against Kamaru Usman at UFC Atlanta. But the former welterweight champion showed the world why he’s called ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ as he dominated Buckley at UFC Atlanta and won via unanimous decision. While such a defeat can absolutely crush people, ‘New Mansa’ has a different outlook. The #7 welterweight contender has broken his silence following the loss.
At the official weigh-ins for the event, Buckley asserted that he was going to finish Usman in their bout. But he got outclassed in the grappling exchanges by the 38-year-old former champion in the first 4 rounds. Only the fifth round saw the judges have the scorecards moving in favor of Buckley. Nevertheless, Mike Bell, Derek Creary, and Sal D’Amato scored the fight 48-47, 49-46, and 49-46, respectively, all in favoring Usman. But what did Buckley say about his unfortunate defeat?
Taking to Instagram, Buckley said, “Look, Atlanta was good to us, baby. We got sold out, the arena. It was amazing opportunity for me to go out there and show up and show out. And I truly believe I did that, especially in the fifth round. We had Usman backing up, trying to get those takedowns. But we stuffed every one. But don’t get it twisted, man. Even though my hand was not raised, I still feel victorious.”
He didn’t back away from giving a shoutout to ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’. He continued, “Man, you are truly a legend. You are truly a GOAT, man. Thank you for the opportunity for allowing me to be able to step into the Octagon with you, bro, and grace me with your presence.” But his gratitude grew stronger for the crowd in Atlanta. With the love that he received, he believes that another main event show isn’t too far away. But he didn’t lose sight of the judges’ decision.
‘New Mansa’ went on, “But look. With that being said, I didn’t win. I didn’t get my hand raised. You know what I mean? But that’s all good. This gives me time to take a break and really kinda work on some tools and work on some things we gotta work on. Because yet again, y’all gonna know who this team is. What we dealt with through that fight, I really felt like it was us against the world. But I feel like we did a great job. Yet again, we had a big name like Kamaru Usman.”
On top of that, he showed gratitude towards Francis Ngannou for the help and support that he provided. Despite his troubles with Dana White and Company, Ngannou appeared on stage during the weigh-ins and the face-off. And following the bout, he took to X and congratulated Usman for the win. But then he wrote, “Congrats to [Joaquin Buckley] on his impressive performance. That round 5! ” No doubt, Buckley gave ‘The Predator’ a shoutout.
Of course, the pressure at UFC Atlanta was intense. But what moved Buckley was the fact that he was able to put enough pressure on his opponent. He claimed that it showed his true capabilities. For now, he’s set to take a break and bounce back stronger. But do you know what Usman had to say about his victory at UFC Atlanta? Let’s find out!
Kamaru Usman weighs in on his victory over Joaquin Buckley at UFC Atlanta
The win at UFC Atlanta put Usman back on track with a win after 3 back-to-back defeats. To make things more intense, this was Usman’s first bout since UFC 294. Talking to Paul Felder inside the Octagon, Usman said, “I can do that to anybody—any one of them. But like I said, I needed to get that monkey off my back, you know? Early on in my career, as I was rolling, once I had that monkey off my back, I knew I was rolling, I was able to open up, and you guys saw all those spectacular knockouts.”
He went on to thank his team for pushing him through in the training camp and getting him ready to face someone like Buckley. Usman continued, “I have got some of the best minds in the game. You know, with coaches like Henri Hooft, Trevor Wittman, Jorge Santiago, Ben Cherrington, all my training partners for those knockouts to come. I just needed to get this monkey off of my back. Next one, whoever it is for that title, I’ll see about you. Before I go, I just wanted to say that I have a lot of emotions coming into this one like I said. It has been a long time.”
The former welterweight champ didn’t forget to thank everyone who supported him and kept him going. Of course, he didn’t forget to show his gratitude towards ‘New Mansa’ for bringing in a tough challenge for him. And in case you’re wondering about Usman’s next move, he has talked about that as well. For him, the ideal opponent would be the winner of Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev. He believed that a match between a former P4P #1 and the current P4P #1 would be pretty interesting.
What are your thoughts on the fight between Buckley and Usman? Who do you think is next in line to compete against the former welterweight champion? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Joaquin Buckley Admits Kamaru Usman’s “GOAT” Status, Breaks Silence on UFC Atlanta Loss appeared first on EssentiallySports.