Joaquin Buckley thinks Kamaru Usman should have to work his way back up to the title picture.
Buckley (21-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) called out Usman after knocking out former title challenger Stephen Thompson less than two weeks ago at UFC 307. Buckley was dismissed by Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC), who told him to get in line.
Usman was trading barbs with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, but with the former champion being on a three-fight losing skid, Buckley says fighting him in a No. 1 contender bout makes sense.
“That’s the funny thing: Who’s in line?” Buckley said in an interview with Parry Punch. “The crazy part about Belal was, like, Usman doesn’t even deserve a title shot. Plus, he said Shavkat is an easier fight than Usman, and that’s what I believe that the UFC is going to make, the Shavkat vs. Belal. Usman, nobody calls him out, that’s still a great name. The last fight he had was with Khamzat (Chimaev), so it’s been a whole year. Come and get this work. Come and get paid at least.”
Muhammad did end up getting booked against Shavkat Rakhmonov for his first title defense, which headlines UFC 310 on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas. Buckley thinks Usman needs at least one win before fighting for the title again.
“He’s just waiting on the opportunity to have that big fight, which is fighting for a title. But my thing is, that sh*t shouldn’t be given to you,” Buckley said. “You should work for that.
“Just because you’ve been a former champion, just because you held the belt for a good amount of time, doesn’t give you the right to come back and just be like, ‘Aight, I get to fight for the belt again.’ You’re still not accounting those three losses you done had. So prove to the world that you still have the ability to fight for a belt.”
