Joaquin Buckley plans to use Colby Covington as springboard to UFC title fight
Not familiar with the name of Joaquin Buckley?
Perhaps one would at least recognize his handiwork.
Four years ago, Buckley’s jaw-dropping, spinning back kick knockout of Impa Kasanganay went viral as the St. Louis native picked up his first UFC victory.
But then, as now, the up-and-comer was not satisfied to be best known for merely one sensational combat sports moment.
“I feel like I didn’t settle for just that situation where, when I got the most viral knockout in 2020, I knew that I didn’t want to live by that,” Buckley, a winner of five straight and 3-0 this year, explained Wednesday to The Post. “I knew I had way more to offer and way more to give. … I’m glad I’m in a situation where I’ve been on the winning streak and now I’m getting so close to that title because, at the end of the day, that’s what I want to be known for: not for a kick but for being a champion.”
A victory Saturday (10 p.m., ESPN) in Buckley’s first UFC headliner against Colby Covington, who was unsuccessful for the third time in challenging for the undisputed welterweight title one year ago, would go a long way to reaching that lofty goal.
The 170-pound division is top-heavy, with champion Belal Muhammad expected to face challenger Shavkat Rakhmonov as soon as this coming spring, with the likes of Jack Della Maddalena and Sean Brady on the upswing in the UFC’s top five.
Buckley’s big year, which included victories over Vicente Luque, Nursulton Ruziboev and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, lifted him into the rankings, and he enters the fight in Tampa, Fla., with a No. 9 next to his name.
But Buckley (20-6, 14 finishes), who originally was to face Ian Machado Garry this weekend before an injury to the champ reshuffled each of the final two UFC events of the year, sees Covington as the better stepping stone to where he wants to go anyway.
With his aim on another impressive victory over the former interim welterweight champ, on the heels of a knockout of Wonderboy in October, Buckley “for sure” believes he could skip the line and challenge for gold next year.
“This will be my fourth knockout. We’re gonna call it; gonna be my fourth knockout that I have in the welterweight division,” Buckley, who competed at middleweight prior to the start of his current win streak, coolly predicts. “I feel like, with that being said, a lot of people have been rewarded and have given less, so I feel like everything I’ve been doing and all the things that I’ve been pursuing, I feel not entitled but I feel like the UFC definitely will be open to giving me a shot.”
Covington (17-4, eight finishes), whose adoption of an abrasive public persona went hand-in-hand with his rise to being one of the division’s biggest names, has kept a lower profile this year after an uninspired loss to then-champion Leon Edwards last December.
The fact that Covington replaced Machado Garry on short notice wasn’t much of a surprise to Buckley, though, reasoning that “you gotta eat, you gotta get paid.”
“You can’t allow influencers and TikTokers and other people like that to keep paying your bills,” said Buckley of Covington’s increased activity on social media relative to his light competition calendar in 2024. “It’s either you come and fight or you go and retire. He had to make a decision.”
As much as Covington’s loss appeared to damage the in-your-face character he plays in public with a passive performance — one he blames on a broken foot suffered early in the fight — Buckley isn’t taking his foe lightly.
Covington earned his keep in the UFC with a forward-moving, volume-striking attack that opened opportunities for his standout wrestling, achieving few wins by stoppage but proving time and again to be adept at outlasting opponents over the course of three- and five-round fights.
Buckley has never competed in a five-rounder, which changes the moment Saturday’s fight commences, and his 5-foot-8 frame carries a great deal of muscle.
Similarly built fighters have been known to encounter trouble with endurance in five-rounders, but Buckley is confident he has conditioned his body well to handle Covington if he can’t score the early knockout he’d prefer.
“I can move with these muscles, and I feel like my cardio and my conditioning is some of the best in the world,” Buckley boasts. “I don’t train for 25 minutes; I train for two hours, and I make sure to put myself through the utmost routine in order to put on great performances in the octagon. So when people see me, even at 170, even though [I’ve] only fought for 15 minutes [at the most], I look fresh.
“I feel like there’s a lot of things that I can do with five rounds. If I’m not able to get you out of there in the early rounds, I’m definitely gonna get you out of here in the fourth and the fifth. I promise you that.”
