Sean Brady says Joaquin Buckley is always dangerous.
Buckley (21-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) will look to rebound when he meets rising welterweight contender Mike Malott (14-2-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in Saturday's UFC Fight Night 291 (Paramount+) main event at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Buckley is coming off a lopsided loss to Brady at UFC 328, where he was taken down four times and controlled for over 12 minutes. Despite beating Buckley handily, Brady (19-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) says the knockout artist never quits on himself.
"I'm going to be biased. I am picking Buckley, but it's not because I fought him," Brady said on his "BradyBagz Show." "I'm picking Buckley because I watched so much tape on Buckley, and over five rounds, if you don't get him out of there – you go back and watch the (Kamaru) Usman fight. He almost had Usman out of there in the fifth round. He doesn't get tired, and he always carries his power. Look at the (Stephen) 'Wonderboy' (Thompson) fight, he was losing that whole fight, knocks him out in the end. Look what he did to Colby (Covington) in the fourth round.
"So I think it's going to be Mike Malott early. I think Mike is going to take a look at my fight, Usman's fight. I think he will be able to get Buckley down. Buckley is hard to submit. Buckley is very strong. I think Malott's gas tank, as you can see in the Neil Magny fight, started to fade. He was winning that whole fight. Neil Magny has one moment, turns it on, wins the fight. I think third, fourth, fifth round, he's going to be in a lot of trouble. He's getting tired, can't get Buckley down as much, and I think Buckley is going to land a big shot."
Brady thinks getting dominated in back-to-back fights is going to make Buckley more hungry than ever.
"Buckley is on a two-fight skid. I saw him at RAF – he knows what's up," Brady said. "He knows he can't lose three in a row. I think he's going to knock Mike Malott out in Canada. ... Mike has power. He is a good grappler. I'm not saying it's going to be easy for Buckley. I think it's going to be a hard fight, but I'm just saying, if it was a three-round fight, I would pick Mike Malott. But, those extra two rounds? Buckley doesn't get tired, and he's always fighting to get up."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Brady: Joaquin Buckley 'always carries his power,' beats Mike Malott