Joaquin Buckley doesn’t see too much incentive for UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev to stick around.
Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) defended his UFC lightweight title a division-record four times before opting to vacate his belt and move up to 170 pounds. He ran through Jack Della Maddalena to claim the welterweight belt, and is now eyeing a legacy fight against ex-champ Kamaru Usman.
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Buckley (21-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC), who saw his winning streak snapped by Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) in June, thinks Makhachev should hang up his gloves if he beats “The Nigerian Nightmare.”
“Whoever wins that, they can get up out of here,” Buckley told Submission Radio. “Because if Usman wins, he’s one and done. He said he’s moving to 185 to go get that title against Khamzat for the rematch. Cool, bye bye. If Islam wins, he said he’s going to hold it down for a long time, but I don’t believe that.
“If Islam gets the fight that he wants, which is Usman, that means not only did you submit your name at lightweight over your brother Khabib, but then you also got the double-champ status, and then you also beat a GOAT in Usman. So, you just pulled the Jon Jones. What else is there to do? What else can he do? You’d be foolish to keep fighting, because to me, Islam is not a natural 170 fighter, and that will get exposed if he fights a person like myself or Ian Garry or (Michael) Morales.”
The welterweight division is not short of top contenders with undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov and Michael Morales, as well as Ian Machado Garry and Carlos Prates, who all notched big wins in their most recent outings.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Joaquin Buckley: Kamaru Usman should be Islam Makhachev’s final fight
