Joaquin Buckley Returns Against Sean Brady at UFC 328
Joaquin Buckley is back after nearly a year away, and sean brady is the opponent waiting for him on the UFC 328 main card Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. Buckley called the bout a reintroduction to the UFC fan base after 11 months out, a return built around one fight and one chance to reset his place in the welterweight mix.
Buckley’s long layoff
“Everything a blessing in disguise, brother,” Buckley said, describing the break that kept him out of competition since June 2025. He also said, “It’s been busy. I’ve been keeping myself busy when it comes to just the small things, man,” and noted that he went to RAF and fought Pat Downey while away.
The layoff followed a unanimous decision loss to former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in the main event of UFC Atlanta in June 2025. Before that setback, Buckley put together a 4-0 run in 2024 and finished Stephen Thompson and Colby Covington back-to-back, which is the form he is trying to bring back into view.
Sean Brady’s style
Buckley is not treating Brady like a placeholder. “Sean Brady, I know that he’s not going to be no scrub. I know that he’s not going to be no punk,” he said, adding that Brady will “try to look for his takedowns and look for his clinch opportunities, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
He went further on the matchup, saying, “To be honest with you, man, this is going to be one of those good type of fights that I’ll get everything just flowing,” and, “I think Sean Brady and myself is a match made in heaven.” Brady’s March 2025 win over former champion Leon Edwards at UFC London and his run as a two-time title challenger put that read on the fight in context.
UFC 328 in Newark
Buckley’s return lands in a loaded 170-pound division, where one result can push a fighter back into the mix and one loss can send him further down the line. He said, “I feel like the headline is going to be a reintroduction of Joaquin Buckley for the UFC and Paramount,” and, “I’m being reintroduced to a new fan base since being out for 11 months, and I truly believe that this is the time that I really get to prove to the world who I am.”
There is also a bit of edge to the pairing. Buckley said Brady still has him blocked on social media, and added, “After this fight, he definitely got to unblock me [on social media], man. He blocked me. He still got me blocked.” The fight now serves as both a return date and a test of whether Buckley’s 2024 surge can survive the jump back into a top-level welterweight bout.
