Joaquin Buckley and Mike Malott are on completely different career trajectories.
Buckley (21-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) takes on streaking welterweight Malott (14-2-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in Saturday's UFC Fight Night 291 (Paramount+) main event at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
After amassing a six-fight winning streak with standout finishes over Stephen Thompson and Colby Covington, Buckley was heavily outgrappled in decision losses to former champion Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady. Robert Whittaker wonders if Buckley's confidence has been impacted after going on a tear, then suffering back-to-back lopsided setbacks.
"(Buckley's) personality lends itself to think that he's a very big confidence fighter, momentum fighter, and that he rides and carries that confidence and momentum through
with him into the octagon itself," Whittaker said on his MMArcade Podcast. "Him coming off two losses against a guy like Malott, who's coming off like really hot and heavy ... whenever you're on two losses, the feeling you have walking into the octagon that third time – it's heavy. There's just a weight on your shoulders because you know, even if you are quieting and silencing all the outside noise, you know that this third one, if you lose, mate, everyone's telling you to get a new job.
"Everyone's saying you're a wash, everyone's saying he was actually never that good. I hate all that, but unfortunately, we can't pretend it doesn't exist. Well, I can't when I'm dealing with it, and I'm sure he's like that, too, and I hope we don't see that. I hope we go in there and we get the best version of Buckley and the best version of Malott and honestly, let the better man win. But I worry that Buckley's going to go in there with a headspace that just doesn't have the confidence and the momentum in that untouchable, invincible aura that he was just ripping through the division with when he had that win streak."
The odds are basically a pick'em, with Malott the slightest of favorites over Buckley. The Canadian enters the fight on a four-fight winning streak – including retiring Gilbert Burns with a Performance of the Night TKO in April.
"I'll lean towards Malott just because of the points I made out, but I do want to see a Buckley go in there and we see the best version of Buckley," Whittaker said. "If we see the best version of Buckley, man, that guy was almost – he was untouchable at one point. Like, he had rocks in his hands."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Robert Whittaker worried Joaquin Buckley fights Mike Malott with no confidence
