If there's a silver lining to Joaquin Buckley's current two-fight losing skid, it's the fact that the only other time in his career that happened, he immediately followed it up with a six-fight win streak that placed him firmly in contention for the UFC welterweight title. Buckley (21-8), a 32-year-old native of St. Louis, looks to return to the win column for the first time since 2024 when he faces streaking Canadian Mike Malott (14-2-1) in a top-10 matchup at 170 pounds headlining Saturday's UFC Fight Night card inside Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Buckley's last two fights were decision defeats to a pair of wrestling-based elites in the form of Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady. And despite the fact that the 34-year-old Malott enters holding a distinct ground advantage against Buckley, the explosive finisher known as "New Mansa" is outright campaigning for an exciting striking matchup. FC numbered event and UFC Fight Night is included with your subscription!
Plans start as low as $8.99/month or $89.99/year! "I think I match up pretty good, I think this is a fight for me," Buckley told CBS Sports on Tuesday. "I think this is a fight where I can really go out there and do what I love to do, which is to really fight.
But I feel like Mike Malott, if he's willing to go through that fire and go through those flames, this should be a really exciting fight for the crowd. "If he wants to fight a certain type of way, the crowd is going to be very pleased." Buckley was competitive at times during his five-round loss to Usman in June 2025 where, despite being taken down four times, he never stopped fighting to return to his feet or even to mount some form of offense from his back. But his return from an 11-month layoff in May against Brady at UFC 328 turned out to be a disaster.
Not only did Brady secure four takedowns over three rounds, he controlled Buckley on the ground for 12 of the 15 minutes to claim almost laughably wide scores from the judges of 30-25, 30-25 and 30-27. The result turned out to be a surprise to Buckley after he thought he had addressed what is looked at as a major hole in his skillset. "I thought I was very, very, very prepared for Sean Brady.
I thought I was, to be honest, and Sean Brady came in and did his job," Buckley said. "But I can't be concerned about what the other man is going to do. I just have to put myself in position where I'm always on the offensive.
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