😭 Joaquin Buckley has been beefing with EVERYONE lately, and nobody is letting it slide! First, he went after Dustin Poirier over that airport situation. Then he called out Sean Strickland for using the N-word, before turning his attention to Josh Hokit, calling him racist and saying he can't rap. And now they're all firing back. 🤣
Joaquin Buckley has spent the past several days in public disputes with three separate fighters, and each of them is now answering back. The welterweight went after Dustin Poirier over an airport incident, criticized Sean Strickland for using a racial slur, and then turned on Josh Hokit, calling him racist and saying he cannot rap. Poirier, Strickland and Hokit have all responded.
None of this is a booked fight. It is a run of social media exchanges, and no bout involving any of the four has been announced.
Buckley, 32, is ranked 13th at welterweight with a 21-9 record and fights out of Murcielago MMA. He comes into the feud on a rough stretch: his most recent recorded fight was a second-round TKO loss to Mike Malott on October 17, and that followed a unanimous decision loss to Sean Brady at UFC 328 in May. Taken with a unanimous decision defeat to Kamaru Usman in June 2025, that is three straight losses in his recorded bouts.
Poirier, 37, is 30-10 and fights out of American Top Team. His most recent recorded fight was a unanimous decision loss to Max Holloway at UFC 318 in July 2025, his second defeat in a row after a submission loss to Islam Makhachev in a title fight at UFC 302. The southpaw lands 5.24 significant strikes per minute at 50 percent accuracy.
Strickland, 35, is the middleweight champion at 31-7. He beat Khamzat Chimaev by split decision at UFC 328 in May and stopped Anthony Hernandez in the third round in February. He lands 6.04 significant strikes per minute, well above Buckley's 3.55, though Buckley's takedown rate of 1.37 per 15 minutes is nearly double Strickland's 0.71.
The physical comparison is tight. Both Strickland and Buckley have a 76-inch reach, or 193 cm, and Strickland is three centimeters taller at 185 cm to Buckley's 178 cm.
Why it matters
- Buckley has lost three in a row, so the noise comes at a time when his standing in the welterweight rankings is under pressure.
- Poirier and Strickland sit at very different points in their careers, one coming off back-to-back losses and the other holding a title, which shapes how seriously each side treats the feud.
- With no fight booked, the exchanges stay online, but callouts of this kind sometimes lead to matchmaking talk.
