{"id":470495,"date":"2026-02-10T11:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/470495\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T11:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:37:10","slug":"buckley-criticises-stalled-welterweight-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/470495\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckley criticises stalled welterweight division"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"233\" data-end=\"435\">Joaquin Buckley has voiced his frustration with the current state of the UFC welterweight division, criticising the lack of activity among top fighters and calling for bouts to be made at 170-pounds.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"437\" data-end=\"643\">Buckley, who has been sidelined since mid-2025, addressed the issue during a recent live stream, arguing that the depth of talent in the division is not being reflected in the number of fights being booked.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"645\" data-end=\"807\">\u201cThe matchmakers know their job. They know better than me what they doing. But right now, they got the hottest division, and ain\u2019t nobody fighting,\u201d Buckley <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-you-got-islam-makhachev-playing-wrestleball-joaquin-buckley-goes-nuclear-ufc-welterweight-division-inactivity\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"809\" data-end=\"1354\">The welterweight contender went on to single out several high-profile names, including champion Islam Makhachev, as part of a broader criticism of inactivity across the division. \u201cYou got Islam out there playing Wrestleball. You got Carlos Prates out there partying and clubbing. You got Michael Morales out there twerking and twirling. You got \u2018JDM\u2019 still at the house, crying. You got Leon missing, again. You got Belal Muhammad trying to sell warm meals. You got Ian Machado Garry watching in the corner. \u2026 And Shavkat is gone,\u201d Buckley said.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1356\" data-end=\"1676\">Buckley suggested his remarks were not intended as jokes, but as a genuine reflection of his concern over stalled momentum. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. Like, what\u2019s going on with the welterweight division? We got to get things active. Come on now, it\u2019s the truth. So yeah, y\u2019all laughing. These ain\u2019t jokes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1678\" data-end=\"1900\">Makhachev claimed the welterweight title late last year, becoming a two-division champion, but has yet to defend the belt, while several leading contenders remain without confirmed matchups or are recovering from injuries.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1902\" data-end=\"2138\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Buckley himself does not currently have a fight scheduled, and his comments appear aimed at pushing the UFC to accelerate matchmaking and restore movement within a division widely regarded as one of the promotion\u2019s deepest talent pools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joaquin Buckley has voiced his frustration with the current state of the UFC welterweight division, criticising the lack&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-470495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}