Joaquin Buckley thinks the UFC can learn a thing or two from the NFL and NBA when it comes to matchups. In an interview with Parry Punch, Buckley said that the UFC should stop forcing fighters to hand-pick their opponents and instead force them to compete, just like teams in professional sports leagues are required to compete against each other. He expressed his belief that
While the comparison to team sports may not be entirely appropriate, his point makes sense. He wants the best fighters to always be paired with the best fighters.
“There’s never going to be a situation where the Patriots don’t play the Eagles or the Denver Nuggets don’t play the Pistons. Everybody has to play each other. There’s no choice.”
Buckley said this “pick and choose” approach slows the division’s growth and prevents fans from seeing the big fights they really want to see. He believes that by forcing mandatory matchups, the UFC can speed things up and make the sport even more exciting.
His comments reflect a sentiment shared by many who are frustrated when top contenders avoid playing each other due to matchmaking strategies. Take Jon Jones, the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight champion. In his absence, Tom Aspinall won the interim title and continued to move the division forward.
Upon his return, Jones was scheduled to fight Aspinall for a title unification, but he later faced Stipe Miocic and chose strategically convenient matches, such as light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, to defeat Aspinall. continues to evade.
Now, whether or not the UFC takes the stricter approach Buckley suggests is another story, but it would be a mistake to deny that there is a problem.
“The New Mantha” was also facing problems of his own as he had to face Colby Covington instead of Ian Garry at UFC Tampa.
This time it was due to Shavkat Rakhmonov’s open challenge to the No. 1 title contender, but Garry had previously refused to face Buckley, believing he was inferior to him in the rankings. He claimed to be there.
But now Buckley seems to have forgotten about that and is aiming to end a “stagnant” Covington on December 15th.
Buckley accuses Colby of lying
In his pre-fight press conference, Covington, in true Chaos character, dismissed Buckley as irrelevant and even pretended not to know who he was.
In response, Buckley accused him of lying and said the same thing everyone has already said about Covington and his MAGA persona.
“The guy he plays is obviously a character, and I think everyone knows that. It’s taken him far, but now it’s gotten a little stale. It’s no longer a thing. It’s not worth it.”
Their matchup promises to be as intense as the build-up as tensions rise and both fighters trade verbal jabs. It will be interesting to see if Buckley can back up what he said in the Octagon, or if Covington proves once again that it’s not just his polarizing personality that’s garnering attention. Dew.
