Tampa, FL — It wasn’t quite “I’m a man of few words. That is all,” but Joaquin Buckley’s appearance at the UFC Tampa post-fight press conference on Saturday may have been one of the shortest in promotion history.
Around 2AM local time, Buckley (21-6) walked into the media room, took to the mic, and issued a statement off the opening question, rather than fielding queries from reporters. Many of whom were fading after a long, though entertaining, night of fights.
“My first main event was a big success. I feel like the whole card was very successful, getting a lot of knockouts,” stated Buckley, addressing outlets including Cageside Press. “I feel like my fight shouldn’t have been stopped, but it is what it is, you’ve got to protect the fighters.”
“I feel like 2025 is definitely my year, and we’re definitely taking over. With this being said, on a six fight winning streak, I’ve got eight knockouts within the UFC. I feel like I hadn’t done enough to really put myself in a position to, yet again, fight for that title. Even though I know Shavkat is next, blessed to that fight, but if anything happens to where Shavkat or Belal doesn’t step up into the octagon, I’m willing to face them.”
“At the end of the day, we’re going to keep this nice and short, bro,” Buckley finished. “I’m definitely looking to take that throne. 2025. We’re out baby. Thank you.”
Mic drop. Buckley looked superb against Colby Covington, dominating the former interim champ and opening up the cut that stopped the fight. He would later poll fans at the Amalie Arena, asking which, between Leon Edwards, Kamaru Usman, and champ Belal Muhammad he should fight next.
Usman took the vote by a slim margin, and as Dana White noted in his own press conference appearance, the fight “doesn’t suck.”
Watch the full UFC Tampa post-fight press conference with Joaquin Buckley above.
