Coming into UFC Atlanta, Joaquin Buckley was a sizable betting -265 favorite to defeat former Welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman. The bigger, younger man was riding a six-fight win streak, while the “broken down” Usman was coming off a long layoff and winless (0-3) skid. But, “The Nigerian Nightmare” came out firing on all cylinders, while Buckley looked as lost as his Uber driver to the arena.
In the end, Usman would take the fight 49-46 on our scorecards and two of the judges’ scorecards.
Now, Buckley is opening up on the loss in a new Buck What You Heard video on his YouTube channel … and “New Mansa” was extremely humble in defeat.
“I feel so humiliated because of that loss,” Buckley said. “But, at the same time, I got to bow my head. Usman showed me who he was, truthfully, bro. And I really just gotta understand that as many excuses that I can make about this fight and why it didn’t go my way because X, Y, Y, it don’t matter. That night, it really showed it’s levels to this game. And in all respect, I got to just look at it and say to myself that means there’s another level that we can obtain.
“I lost a check, bro,” Buckley said about missing out on his win bonus (see full disclosed payouts here). “That s—t hurt. Like, that’s the thing that sucks about losing. You don’t just lose on the record, bro. You lose out financially. Like, when I say we can’t afford to lose? Literally, bro, we cannot afford to lose. But, guess what? I’m a take this valuable lesson that breaks my heart every time I watch the fight and make sure that s—t never happens again.
“I didn’t get physically beaten,” he continued. “I had all the tools necessary to beat Usman that night. Y’all talking about I can’t wrestle. What is y’all talking about? Y’all seen my last fight with Colby [Covington], and Colby is arguably a better wrestler than Usman. Don’t forget, Usman wrestled D2. Kobe was D1. So, don’t disrespect me by saying I can’t wrestle because you saw in that fifth round, my ass can wrestle. I just didn’t show up. I didn’t execute. That’s on me, and I allowed myself to be in that moment for too long.
“I was mesmerized, man,” Buckley finished. “I’m seeing Francis Ngannou across the cage from Kamaru Usman. And I’m just like, I get to show these guys how great I am. I get to show these guys. I’m that one. Instead of just realizing the man that’s in front of me right now, he trying to hold me down, and I paid for it.”
Buckley also went in-depth on Israel Adesanya’s not-so-nice comments about him. “The Last Stylebender” released a UFC Atlanta reaction video and ripped into Buckley, which took the 170-pound standout by surprise.
Israel Adesanya couldn’t stop hating on Joaquin Buckley while watching his fight with Kamaru Usman last night
“I hate this n**** bro. Something about him just f***ing annoys me.”
@stylebender pic.twitter.com/9RZSpKDFo6
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 15, 2025
“He knows what it’s like to lose, so to say that you you hate a motherf—er and you glad that they lost, didn’t achieve their dreams?” Buckley said. “It’s wild to me. Like, bro, why the f— you mad at me? What the f— I do to you? Because I find it funny how you hating on me. You need to be hating the motherf—er that took your belt, and y’all know what I’m talking about. That n—a is he.
“You ain’t no real fighter,” Buckley concluded. “You want to be a little pretty boy. You know what I’m saying? I will give you a sample, but I don’t like boy p—y. You can get this work any given time, bro. I can give it to you. But, I just hate fighters like you, man, because you wanna downplay on somebody that’s trying to work toward something.”
Enough talk, who’s next?
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