Athletes
Joaquin Buckley | Getting Back In The Swing Of Things
After Competing Just Once In 2025, Joaquin Buckley Plans To Get Back In The Welterweight Mix, Starting With Victory At UFC 328.
It’s a case of “different night, same fight” for Joaquin Buckley as he gets set to take on Sean Brady at UFC 328 this weekend.
Buckley and Brady were originally set to headline a UFC Fight Night event at the Meta APEX last month, but their matchup was reverted back to a three-round matchup and switched to the main card of UFC 328, where the pair will now do battle in front of a huge crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Buckley appreciated that his bout was worthy of inclusion on a big UFC numbered event but admitted that he misses the main event spotlight this time around.
UFC 328 Full Fight Card Preview
“I like being the main event. I like being on the poster. I like being the main show, the reason why everybody is coming out to watch,” he said. “But it just is what it is. To be able to be in a sold-out arena, which I do believe is gonna sell out, I truly believe that it's a great opportunity just to show the UFC, and the world, my value.”
Six straight wins saw Buckley surge towards the division’s elite, but a 2025 decision defeat to former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman pumped the brakes on his momentum. After getting the call to fight Brady, he was contacted by the very man he’d just fought, who offered to share some of his expertise and experience.
Joaquin Buckley Fight Week Interview | UFC 328
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Joaquin Buckley Fight Week Interview | UFC 328
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“Crazy enough, I was in Houston, doing my thing, and they actually announced my fight with Brady right there. And before I knew it, man, I had Usman hit me up,” Buckley recalled. “He was like, ‘Hey man. Congrats on the fight. Let me know if you're trying to link up. I’d love to train with you (and) help you out for this bout.’
“So, with that being said, I had to take that offer up from the champ himself, fly up to Florida, and get that work in.”
Your UFC 328 Full Fight Week Guide
That time with Usman added more quality work on top of his previous two fight camps, which saw him prepare for two wrestle-heavy opponents in Colby Covington and Usman. Now he’s set to face another fighter who does his best work on the ground, Buckley feels that he is ready to put it all together to demonstrate his full range of fighting skills against one of the division’s most respected grapplers.
“I really get to show people where my level is,” he said. “I do understand that Sean Brady is grappling-heavy, but his strength lies in one or two things when it comes to grappling. So, I get to show off some of my skillset too in this fight, and get to show that I'm a well-rounded fighter."
Buckley is renowned for his high-intensity fighting style and prodigious power at 170 pounds. After watching Brady’s two career losses – to Belal Muhammad and Michael Morales – Buckley has identified where he can put his power to good use.
“Not only just identify it, man, but I'll outdo what Michael Morales did, or outdo what even Belal did, right?” he said. “Both of those guys, they did finish Sean Brady, but nobody ever knocked him out. I think that's one thing that Sean Brady, he's trying to prepare himself for it, and he wants to keep himself safe, so he’s going to force the shot. He’s going to force a lot of bad positions which, yet again, is going to lead him to be looking at those bright lights.”
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The welterweight division is a crowded place in 2026, and Buckley sees himself among the division’s very best. He currently sits ninth in the official welterweight rankings, but he said he isn’t distracting himself with his position in the division. He just wants to get back to competing regularly again.
“First off, I’ve got to get the win,” he said. “But because I've been out for a good amount of time, I just really want to see myself competing as much as possible, right? And it gets difficult, especially when you get higher up the rankings, and you do want to be world champion. But as of right now, it just seems like that’s not the end-all goal. My end-all goal is to just compete, have fun, and make money… I’m loving that there’s some movement going on. At the end of the day, I truly believe that the UFC is gonna make a decision on who’s gonna fight for the title next. And, once that decision is made, that’s when things are gonna start moving appropriately.
“You’ve got Carlos Prates now, who just did what he did to JDM that we never saw before. And he has the ability to speak for his next place as a title contender. Then you have a person like Ian Garry, who beat Carlos Prates before. So the UFC has just got to pick who they want to fight for that title, and things are going to move as natural as they should be.”
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Victory over Brady could open the door to the division’s top contenders, but Buckley is staying laser-focused on the job at hand, and hopes to simply replace his opponent on the cusp of the division’s top five when the rankings are updated next week.
“I don’t put no more extra value on what it is,” he said. “I just want his place, right? Number six. Number six in the world.”
UFC 328: Chimaev vs Strickland took place live from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 9, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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