Kamaru Usman fights back tears after beating Joaquin Buckley to earn 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
34 minutes ago
- BBC News
England star Esme Morgan 'had it all' from a young age
The first football coach of Lionesses star Esme Morgan has said the defender "had it all" from a young was part of the England side who came from behind to beat Italy 2-1 on Tuesday to book a place in Sunday's Euro 2025 final against 24-year-old plays her club football for US side Washington Spirit, but began her footballing journey under the tutelage of Martin Windle in her home city of Windle described his former protégé as a "really, really nice human being" and remembered her footballing ability as "absolutely brilliant". Morgan joined Ecclesall Rangers, where Mr Windle is still chairman, aged seven and represented the club's boys teams in the Sheffield & District Sunday League until she left to sign for Manchester City aged 15."She had it all - she was brilliant," recalled Mr Windle, who paid tribute to his son Jon, another coach at Ecclesall Rangers, for his role in Morgan's early development."I couldn't have said to you 'She's going to be a professional footballer', because the likes of that didn't exist 20 years ago."My job was introducing her to football and she's carried on from there." Morgan has made two appearances for Sarina Wiegman's side during the tournament in Switzerland, one as a substitute against Sweden before starting against Italy. She was also part of the Lionesses squad which reached the Women's World Cup final in 2023, when they lost out to former High Storrs pupil, who attended the same school as Kyle Walker, impressed in Tuesday's semi-final, meaning she could be in line to feature again in the final. Morgan's former school said they "couldn't be prouder" after more late drama sent England into their second successive European final and third in as many major tournaments."Her contribution was immense and I think they should stick with her," said Mr Windle, who has been involved in grassroots football for 36 years and counting."Forwards and strikers win you games, defenders win you the cups and tournaments." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Mets open California trip with blowout win in SF
July 26 - Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto drove in two runs apiece, Francisco Lindor homered among three hits and scored three times, and the New York Mets opened a three-game road series against the San Francisco Giants with an 8-1 win Friday night. Clay Holmes limited the Giants to one run in five innings in a duel of All-Stars against Logan Webb, sending the Mets to their fifth straight win. It took just four batters for New York to build a 2-0 lead on Webb (9-8), who served up a game-opening double to Nimmo and single to Lindor before Soto produced the first run with an infield groundout and Pete Alonzo the second with a sacrifice fly. Lindor's homer, his 20th, gave the Mets a 3-1 lead in the third before the visitors took charge with a three-run fourth. Singles by Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez before a Ronny Mauricio walk loaded the bases for Tyrone Taylor, whose fielder's choice grounder scored Baty. After Taylor stole second, Nimmo made it a 6-1 game with a two-run single to center. Webb was pulled at inning's end, charged with six runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out four. Successfully kicking off a six-game California swing, the Mets tacked on in the ninth when Luisangel Acuna scored on a wild pitch and Soto followed with an RBI single. The Giants got their only run off Holmes (9-5) in the last of the first when Heliot Ramos led off with a single, advanced to third on a double by Rafael Devers and scored on an infield out by Willy Adames. A walk to Matt Chapman put two on with one out, but Holmes escaped the jam and preserved a 2-1 lead en route to allowing just the one run and six hits in his five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Huascar Brazoban, Rico Garcia and Jose Castillo combined for four scoreless innings of relief, allowing just three hits. Nimmo and Soto finished with two hits apiece for the Mets, who out-hit the hosts 10-9. Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee had a pair of hits each for the Giants, who have lost seven of nine. The hosts went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. --Field Level Media
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Ex-Manny Pacquiao rival urges him to retire as he makes shock claim about comeback fight
Manny Pacquiao 's old rival Tim Bradley has called for him to head back into retirement after insisting his 'time is up' following his comeback fight against Mario Barrios last weekend. Pacquiao returned from a four-year absence to hold Barrios to a majority draw in their WBC welterweight title fight as he almost became a world champion again at 46. However, Bradley, who faced Pacquiao three times between 2012 and 2016, was not particularly impressed and has made a shock claim that Barrios went easy on the Filipino legend. Speaking on his own YouTube channel, Bradley said: 'I'm going to keep it real, Manny Pacquiao's time has been up. You know the fact that he's a special type of athlete, he's a legend, he's able to get in there with Mario Barrios who basically somewhat carried this guy, man, he carried Manny Pacquiao. 'I don't care what anybody say, he carried him. Yes, all he had to do was step on the gas especially in the middle, the back end of the fight where he's the younger fighter. 'He has more energy, he could have gave more effort because obviously he got hit with some straight left hands and he was able to take it but it didn't seem like he wanted to.' Bradley holds a controversial win over Pacquiao, having beaten him via split decision 13 years ago. But Pacquiao outpointed him in the next two meetings to edge their rivalry. Bradley's second defeat by Pacquiao was his last professional fight as he retired a two weight-world champion with 33 wins from 37 bouts. Pacquiao has now had 73 fights and has no intention of stopping yet, despite Bradley's comments. He has welcomed a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, while Ryan Garcia and WBA welterweight titlist Rolando 'Rolly' Romero have also thrown their names into the mix to take on 'Pac Man' next. DAZN is the home of combat sports, broadcasting over 185 fights a year from the world's best promoters, including Matchroom, Queensberry, Golden Boy, Misfits, PFL, BKFC, GLORY and more. An Annual Saver subscription is a one-off cost of £119.99 / $224.99 (for 12 months access), that's just 64p / $1.21 per fight. There is also a Monthly Flex Pass option (cancel any time) at £24.99 / $29.99 per month. A subscription includes weekly magazine shows, comprehensive fight library, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and podcasts and vodcasts.
