Joaquin Buckley reveals brutally honest reason for move to welterweight

Joaquin Buckley is arguably best known for his UFC knockout-of-the-year jumping spinning back kick in 2020, but he has put on some other great performances inside the cage. Having recently decided to move down to welterweight, Buckley has now revealed the biggest reason for his choice.

'New Mansa' had a rough start to life in the UFC, suffering a knockout loss to Kevin Holland in his octagon debut. He did quickly get back on track, winning five of his next six bouts. But a recent run of bad form has forced the 29-year-old to call an end to his time in the middleweight division.

During a recent interview, Joaquin Buckley insisted that he wanted to essentially prolong his time in the sport by not facing the much more powerful contenders at 185 and thus avoid getting knocked out.

"Yeah. I got tired of getting knocked out; I ain't going to lie to you," he said. "Being at 185, you got a lot of heavy hitters out there. One thing about me, mentally, I'm not scared to fight anybody, but sometimes that's the problem. It's not about being scared, it's about being smart. Right now, me being at 170, I feel like even though I took losses at 185, they prepared me for these moments at welterweight. The resistance and the strength that I was dealing with at 185, man, I'm about to run past these dudes at welterweight. Let's get this money."

Buckley had a record of 5-4 before deciding to step down in weight. Check out what he had to say regarding his move to welterweight in the video below.

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Joaquin Buckley's next fight: Who is the brawler facing in his UFC welterweight debut?

After he confirmed his move to welterweight, the UFC booked Joaquin Buckley in a fan-favorite matchup that has all the ingredients to steal the show on May 20.

On Saturday's main card of the UFC Fight Night card, the Missouri-born knockout artist will collide in the octagon with fellow finisher Andre Fialho. It is a fight that is almost guaranteed not to need the judges' scorecards.

The Portuguese standout has had a career of ups and downs since being snapped up by the promotion back in 2022. But five fights into his time in the octagon, it's hard to argue against how entertaining the man's fights are.