Joaquin Buckley holds 4-5 UFC record in fights without successful takedowns

A curious statistical pattern surrounding Joaquin Buckley has emerged ahead of his welterweight bout against Sean Brady this weekend, raising questions about how much his grappling output — or lack of it — shapes his results.

Buckley carries a 4-5 record in UFC fights where he failed to land a single takedown. On the positive side of that ledger, every one of those four wins came by finish, with victims including Colby Covington, Vicente Luque, Albert Duraev, and Jordan Wright. The troubling flip side: every single UFC loss on his record also came in a fight where he went without a successful takedown. The pattern suggests that when Buckley cannot impose himself on the mat, outcomes become a coin flip decided largely by his striking.

The man across the cage, Sean Brady, enters ranked seventh in the welterweight division with a 19-2 record. The 33-year-old out of Renzo Gracie Philly is one of the division's more complete fighters, averaging 3.53 takedowns per 15 minutes and landing significant strikes at a 55 percent accuracy clip — among the higher marks in the division. That grappling threat alone could complicate Buckley's ability to operate freely on the feet.

Luque, one of Buckley's finishes in the no-takedown category, owns a 24-12-1 record and fires at an imposing 4.83 significant strikes per minute, making that stoppage one of the more notable on Buckley's résumé. Duraev, another finish in that group, holds a 16-5 record and averages nearly two takedowns per 15 minutes himself, yet Buckley put him away without ever securing a takedown.

Why it matters

• Buckley's finish power is real, but his 4-5 record without a takedown shows the approach carries genuine risk
• Brady's 3.53 takedowns per 15 minutes makes him a serious threat to dictate where the fight takes place
• Whether Buckley can record even one successful takedown against a seasoned Renzo Gracie product could prove decisive