Joaquin Buckley feels like Vicente Luque “quit” at UFC Atlantic City: “He didn’t want to be in there”

Joaquin Buckley believes Vicente Luque quit at UFC Atlantic City.

Buckley stepped up on short notice to face Luque in the co-main event of UFC Atlantic City. The first round was competitive, but in the second round, Luque pulled guard and Buckley landed heavy ground-and-pound shots to get the TKO win.

Although Joaquin Buckley did land heavy shots, he thinks Vicente Luque didn’t want to be in there with him and looked for the way out.

“I feel like Vicente just quit in there, point blank, period. He quit. He didn’t want to be in there in the first place. Before the fight started, he didn’t want to be in there,” Buckley said on The MMA Hour. “When you’re a fighter, you can just sense those things. It’s hard to explain. You’ve got to get in there and find out. I knew it the moment I saw him. The moment I saw him at weigh-ins, I knew it.”

Even though Joaquin Buckley feels like Vicente Luque quit at UFC Atlantic City, it still was the biggest win of his career. He’ll now be ranked at welterweight and will get a big fight next time out.

Following the win, he called for a matchup with Gilbert Burns, who was in Luque’s corner, and Joaquin Buckley doubled down on that callout.

“I actually love the idea of Gilbert Burns. Right now we’re 3-1 against that team. The first guy that beat me from that team was Logan Storley back in Bellator. He held me down for 15 (minutes). After that I knocked out Impa Kasanganay, Andre Fialho, and now their boy Vicente. So now I’m 3-1 with them,” Buckley said.

With the win over Vicente Luque at UFC Atlantic City, Joaquin Buckley is now 18-6 as a pro and on a three-fight winning streak. He’s also a perfect 3-0 since dropping back down to welterweight in the UFC as he also beat Alex Morono and Andre Filaho.