Joaquin Buckley left Edmonton with a third straight loss, finished by Canada’s Mike Malott in the second round. Rather than go quiet, the American welterweight says he is about to put his entire rebuild on camera.
A Third Straight Loss
Mike Malott closed out the UFC Edmonton main event on Saturday with a second-round knee followed by punches, forcing the referee to step in. It was Buckley’s third consecutive defeat. After beating Colby Covington at UFC Tampa in December 2024, he dropped a decision to Kamaru Usman in June 2025, then another to Sean Brady at UFC 328 in May 2026, following a six-fight winning streak. Malott, fighting in front of his home fans in Canada, pushed his own run to four straight wins, including victories over Kevin Holland and Gilbert Burns at UFC Winnipeg in April. Both fighters made weight at 170.5 pounds (77.3 kilograms) the day before, for a card officially billed as UFC Fight Night: Buckley vs. Malott.
A Silence That Did Not Match His Reputation
At Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins, Buckley declined a handshake from UFC CEO Dana White, then stared down Malott through the face-off without a word. Shortly after, UFC on Paramount+ reporter Mackenzie Pavlovich asked him about his preparation and mindset, and Buckley stayed silent for close to a minute, staring into the camera. Paramount+ later posted that he was “locked in” and “didn’t say a single word” during the interview. That silence stood out for a fighter usually counted among the most outspoken and playful on the UFC roster, and clips of White’s reaction to the snubbed handshake quickly circulated on social media. Buckley had said he expected to get cut after his UFC 328 loss to Brady. That did not happen, and the promotion instead booked him opposite Malott in Edmonton. In a separate clip posted after the fight, Buckley also shared his own visibly stunned reaction as he watched the knockout back for the first time.
“We Rebuilding, and I Want Y’all to See the Process”
After the fight, Buckley posted an Instagram video captioned, “Right now, we rebuilding and I want y’all to see the process, not just the results.” In the clip, he said he is starting over from scratch and wants to document his work and the team around him. He added that he has no plans to quit: “I’m not gonna stop. I’m gonna keep moving forward.” He also argued his performance still did something for the sport: “I truly believe what I did helped bring more eyes to the game.” His plan is to pair visits to different gyms with more online content, treating the gym tour and the online project as one effort rather than two separate plans, though he has not named a new permanent camp, laid out a timeline, or identified his next opponent.
Rampage Jackson and King Green Pushed Him Toward It
Two days before the fight, Buckley told reporter Mike Heck what nudged him toward building an online channel. He said he had watched Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and King Green grow their own channels and took that as proof it could work for him too: “if they can do it, I know I can, man.” He said he wanted content with real substance, something that could “actually change lives.” He had just joined the streaming platform Kick days before that interview, and had already started streaming on it ahead of fight week. Buckley also recalled trying something similar around UFC Jacksonville back in June 2023, then shelving the footage because, in his words, “I didn’t trust myself.” That earlier attempt never saw the light of day. This time, he said, he wants to see it through to the end rather than keep it in a drawer.
What Comes Next
Buckley trained for the Malott fight out of Fortis MMA in Dallas under coach Sayif Saud, alongside teammates Geoff Neal and Ryan Spann, after leaving his longtime St. Louis base. He has not called Dallas a permanent home. No date or opponent has been set for his next fight, and he has not said publicly whether three straight losses changes his approach to picking the next one. Malott, meanwhile, carries his four-fight win streak forward with the kind of momentum that keeps him in the division’s top-10 conversation. Current welterweight rankings and the latest UFC results are available on the site, alongside profiles of other American UFC fighters.
