“Pray for STL!!” These words reverberated with the fighting community as Tyron Woodley put on an Instagram Story as the EF3 tornado destroyed his home turf on 16th May. As per reports, about 5 lives were lost, and St. Louis suffered damage worth $1.6 billion. And as the townsfolk continue to rebuild the community, Joaquin Buckley swooped in with generous help.
Buckley is set to clash against Kamaru Usman in the main event for UFC Atlanta. ‘New Mansa’ has high hopes for the bout. Even though it’s still 4 days away, he believes that he’ll receive the $50K bonus from Dana White. And he revealed exactly what he intended to do with that money. You guessed it! He wants to donate it all to the St. Louis relief fund.
Taking to his YouTube channel, ‘New Mansa’ said, “God bless us with the Fight of the Night. I want to take the opportunity, man, to donate the bonus that I get to the St. Louis disaster relief, you know what I mean, for the tornado that hit St. Louis.” He weighed in on the struggles of the people in St. Louis—a situation that left many without homes and caused quite a bit of damage to their properties, with some citizens losing everything.
Buckley continued, “With that being said, you know, I want to take that bonus and put every dollar towards that relief. Because it’s unfortunate that that situation happened to St. Louis. But one thing I say coming out of that situation, St. Louis came together. Right? St. Louis came together as a community, man, by cleaning, by feeding, by sharing, by caring about one another, you know. So with that being said, man, I’m proud of y’all. I’m proud of St. Louis, you know. This fight is for y’all.”
But all of this good will can only be realized if he wins that performance bonus on Saturday. But make no mistake, this whole bid comes from a place of confidence. Buckley has torn through the welterweight rankings since moving down to the division. He’s supremely confident about defeating ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ at UFC Atlanta. But what exactly does ‘New Mansa’ plan to do after that?
Joaquin Buckley reveals his plans after a win over Kamaru Usman
Through his official YouTube channel, Buckley expressed his desire for the welterweight title. Of course, the talk of Islam Makhachev getting a title shot against Jack Della Maddalena has already shrouded the MMA world. But according to Buckley, he should be the one to fight Della Maddalena first.
He claimed, “Once I beat Kamaru Usman, there is no debate, there is no back-and-forth, there is no argument. We up next. And you already know, you got this guy from 155 [pounds] coming up thinking he’s going to take my spot. Nah, we can’t have it. I truly believe that with everything that’s coming, the ‘JDM’ and Islam fight is not a massive fight to make. ‘JDM’ is the world champion, right now, but I truly believe that Islam got to sit back and just wait for me to get my title.”
Needless to say, Buckley believes that he’ll rise victorious over the Australian welterweight champion, if the two happen to clash in the near future. Following that, the obvious opponent for ‘New Mansa’ as the new champion would be Makhachev. But for the Dagestani, it would be his hardest battle, according to Buckley who said, “I will be the hardest fight that Islam has. He’s not going to out wrestle me. He’s not going to submit me—I’ve never been submitted in my career. And he’s definitely not going to stand on the feet with me. If the people want to see it, it’s going to be made.”
Nevertheless, we can certainly expect a battle to remember at UFC Atlanta. Buckley will do his best to extend his 6-fight win streak. And with a possible win over Usman, he might just move one step closer to a shot at the welterweight title. But will he actually get the $50,000 bonus to donate to St. Louis tornado relief? We’ll have to wait for Saturday Night to know that.
What do you think of Buckley’s promise for St. Louis? Do you think he can actually beat someone like ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
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