Joaquin Buckley issues warning to Islam Makhachev about fighting after Kamaru Usman

Joaquin Buckley isn’t convinced that Islam Makhachev will compete much longer, even if he fights and defeats Kamaru Usman.

Right now, Islam Makhachev is on top of the world as the UFC welterweight champion. While there’s been no confirmation about what’s next for him, it certainly seems as if the idea of him being challenged by former champion Kamaru Usman is building momentum.

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Of course, as you can imagine, a lot of their fellow welterweights aren’t particularly happy about this. While Usman did manage to defeat Joaquin Buckley earlier this year, there’s no clear indication that he would be able to give Makhachev problems at this point in his mixed martial arts career.

In a recent interview, the aforementioned Buckley gave his thoughts on Islam Makhachev’s future.

Buckley’s view on Makhachev’s future

“Whoever wins that [Makhachev vs Usman], 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.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie