Kamaru Usman fought back tears on Saturday after overcoming Joaquin Buckley in Atlanta, a result that marked his first UFC win since 2021.
Usman, who retained the welterweight title five times during a three-year reign, used his wrestling prowess to dominate Buckley for four rounds, before surviving a fifth-round scare to earn a unanimous-decision win.
The scorecards read 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 in Usman’s favour, as the Nigerian-American snapped a three-fight losing streak. In doing so, he also broke Buckley’s six-fight winning run.
Usman had last scored a victory in November 2021, outpointing old rival Colby Covington in his final successful title defence. Then, in August 2022, he was en route to a comfortable decision win over Leon Edwards before succumbing to a dramatic, late knockout.
Usman, who previously outpointed Edwards in 2015, lost their trilogy bout on points in 2023, failing to regain the 170lb title. Then, in October 2023, he stepped in to face the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev on short notice. In what was Usman’s middleweight debut, he performed admirably but lost via decision.
Usman, 38, returned to welterweight to face the in-form Buckley on Saturday (14 June), where he defied his doubters with an impressive performance, which gave way to an emotional post-fight interview.
“It feels good,” he said in the cage. “It’s been a while, I needed to get that monkey off my back. I know I’m still able to do this at the highest level. Sometimes when you’re going up against a young, hungry guy like that – very talented, very aggressive – you’ve got to pull out the skills and use the experience.
“That’s what I did tonight. I expected him to be really, really tough, which he was. I know what it takes to work and get up in here. Thank you to him for bringing everything that he brought.
“I know it’s a running joke, everybody wants to get on the internet and talk s***: ‘Oh, his knees, his knees [are done]!’ Well, shut the f*** up. I can still do what I do. The rest of the welterweight division, listen: I have been and always will be the f*****g boogeyman.”
“I can do that to anybody, any one of them. Those knockouts will come, I just needed this monkey off my back. Next one, whoever it is for that title, I’ll see about you.”
An emotional Usman also referenced his daughter’s absence from the Fight Night, saying: “Before I go, I just wanted to say that I have a lot of emotions coming into this one […] a lot of things that I had to battle back from. I’m holding back all the emotions.
“Unfortunately, my daughter can’t be here with me tonight. That’s another long story. But man, I just want to say thank you to everybody – thank you to my family, my coaches who kept me going, Buckley for bringing the challenge.”
Jack Della Maddalena, the reigning welterweight champion, is due to defend the belt later this year against Islam Makhachev, who recently vacated the lightweight strap.
“JDM” won the belt in May by outpointing Belal Muhammad, who is now calling for a fight with Usman, but the “Nigerian Nightmare” has insisted he only wants a title shot next.
