- Joaquin Buckley only called Conor McGregor out to try and promote himself after UFC St. Louis win
- “New Mansa” thinks Gilbert Burns could be his next opponent
Joaquin Buckley knew well that name-dropping Conor McGregor could add value to his name but he sees Gilbert Burns as his next possible opponent.
It was just about promotion
Buckley secured his fourth consecutive win with a decision victory over Nursulton Ruziboev at UFC St. Louis. To everybody’s surprise, “New Mansa” called McGregor out in his post-fight interview.
In another interview, Buckley admitted that he only mentioned “Notorious” to promote himself. However, “New Mansa” believes that another big-name welterweight in Burns is a more “realistic” opponent.
“He’s the biggest name out there. And obviously if the fight doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter,” Buckley said of McGregor. “The numbers go up. McGregor is the kind of person that if you call him out, and you use his name, you can promote yourself to get to get into a bigger situation. I’m trying to promote myself to a bigger level.”
“I don’t know if he’d be ready, but I love Gilbert Burns [as] a realistic opponent,” he added.
Conor is already booked
Apart from the fact that McGregor is a notch above the rest, “Notorious” is also already set to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303. On the other hand, Burns is still fresh off a knockout loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 299 and the Brazilian might need more time to recover.
As it stands, Buckley is currently ranked No. 11 in the official welterweight rankings. It is yet to be known if his win over Ruziboev would be enough for him to break into the division’s Top 10.
