Following his finish of Jack Della Maddalena, Joaquin Buckley now has talking points to use against Islam Makhachev, specifically that he was able to finish Maddalena while Makhachev went to decision. This creates another potential media rivalry for the lightweight champion beyond existing narratives with Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov. The quick finish gives Buckley credibility in callout discussions. The post notes that Garry and Rakhmonov would not be first in line among Makhachev's potential media opponents.
Joaquin Buckley handed himself a fresh piece of ammunition in the ongoing championship conversation around Islam Makhachev by stopping Jack Della Maddalena inside the distance, and he wasted little time making that point heard.
Makhachev, the welterweight champion carrying a 28-1 record and ranked at the top of the pound-for-pound list, went the full championship distance against Della Maddalena in their previous meeting. The 34-year-old Russian southpaw out of Eagles MMA is an elite grappler, averaging 3.2 takedowns per 15 minutes, and while he is technically listed in the verified data under the welterweight division, his status as champion makes him the gravitational center of any title discussion in that weight class.
Della Maddalena entered that fight as the fourth-ranked welterweight and 13th in the pound-for-pound standings, a 29-year-old Australian out of Scrappy MMA who had built his reputation on volume and aggression. Carrying an 18-4 record, the switch-stance striker lands 5.57 significant strikes per minute, one of the higher outputs in the division, which makes Buckley's finish all the more notable as a talking point.
The calculus is straightforward: Buckley can now point to doing something the champion could not, at least by way of finish rate in that specific matchup. That distinction gives him credibility in callout discussions that he did not have before the stoppage.
Why it matters
- Buckley's finish of Della Maddalena gives him a concrete argument that Makhachev could not replicate against the same opponent
- Makhachev already faces media pressure from Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov, the latter an undefeated 19-0 knockout artist from Kazakhstan, meaning the champion's queue of high-profile rivals is crowding quickly
- Rakhmonov, ranked third at welterweight with a 60 percent striking accuracy and a perfect professional record, and Garry are noted as not being first in line among Makhachev's potential media opponents, leaving room for Buckley to carve out his own lane
