Daniel Cormier, Ben Askren respond to Joaquin Buckley praying to ‘run into DC’

Daniel Cormier is well aware of what awaits him in Salt Lake City.

Cormier once again found himself in the crosshairs of Joaquin Buckley this past week after the streaking UFC welterweight contender told MMA Fighting that he’s “been praying to the MMA gods that I run into DC” following an online back-and-forth between the two in May.

The beef stems from Buckley’s widely panned post-fight interview following his unanimous decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev in front of a hometown crowd at UFC St. Louis. Cormier was one of many within the MMA community to criticize Buckley’s callout of Conor McGregor as a waste of valuable microphone time, and ahead of Buckley’s scheduled fight against Stephen Thompson at UFC 307, “DC” can’t believe he’s still hearing about this.

“Why are fighters so sensitive? It’s bad. I mean, it is bad,” Cormier said Wednesday on his YouTube channel alongside Ben Askren. “Like bro, you know that Joaquin Buckley has still been trying to fight me and pick on me? Bro, why? Why? Why?”

“So Joaquin, if you listen to this, don’t be mad at me too just because I’m friends with Daniel, but I agree with Daniel,” Askren said. “And I like Joaquin Buckley. I think he’s a good dude, trains with Nick Simmons. I agree with [Cormier]. No, I agreed, I agreed with you totally. And this is where, again, don’t take yourself too seriously — you’re not going to hit 100 percent of the time, right? Daniel Cormier, maybe he’ll have a good drive once in a while, but he shanks some of them into the woods when he golfs.

“That’s what Joaquin Buckley did in that post-fight, he shanked it into the woods. Calling out McGregor? It was just ridiculous. Maybe if you’re going to do something like that, make one line about him. But don’t make the whole thing about him, right? Say one line just to get his name in there, and then go off on somebody else — it would’ve been much better.”

UFC 307 takes place Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Cormier is expected to serve as a color commentator on the broadcast team for the pay-per-view event.

Buckley and Cormier’s initial squabble after UFC St. Louis culminated with Buckley telling Cormier — as well as fellow UFC analysts Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping — “Ya mommas raised some hoes,” which led to Cormier firing back with an expletive-filled tirade aimed at the UFC welterweight contender. Cormier’s mother passed away in 2022.

Though several months have passed, it’s clear the exchange still sits on Buckley’s mind. He told MMA Fighting that while there’s “no beef” on his side, he’s happy to “figure this stuff out [with Cormier] if there’s an issue or a misunderstanding.” Buckley added that he just wants to speak to Cormier at UFC 307, but if the former two-division champion wants to escalate things, “We can always get this work in as martial artists and hash it out.”

For what it’s worth, though, Cormier seems pretty unbothered.

“Oh my gosh. You have no idea how bad he is, how mad Joaquin Buckley’s going to be,” Cormier said with a laugh after Askren’s rant.

“Well, he needs to stop,” Askren said. “He needs to stop. You gave him good advice.”

“Joaquin Buckley’s going to see me in Salt Lake City,” Cormier said. “He said he looks forward to running into me. He says he’s been praying to run into me.”

“That’s where, you have a large personality, a large following,” Askren said. “So a lot of these fighters, they’re almost constantly thinking — I think clout chasing is overused, but maybe that’s a little bit like [what this is]. They wonder, ‘What type of interactions can I get to make people care?’”