Despite being just 32 years old, Joaquin Buckley will be hanging up his gloves.

‘New Mansa’ made a strong start to life in the UFC welterweight division after moving down from middleweight in 2023.

Buckley’s win over Colby Covington in the UFC Tampa main event marked his sixth straight victory at 170 pounds in the space of just 20 months and put him in the title conversation.

Since then, however, he has lost three fights in a row, and the violent nature of the latest setback has led Buckley to a difficult decision.

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Joaquin Buckley will follow his family’s advice and retire after one more UFC fight

Buckley returned to the cage for his third UFC main event last Saturday in Edmonton, Canada. He was looking to play spoiler against home favorite Mike Malott at Rogers Place.

Instead of achieving that goal and bouncing back from his two-fight losing skid, Buckley was knocked out by Malott after an attempted head kick resulted in the Canadian’s knee landing to the American’s head.

While it marked his first knockout loss in four years, Buckley is wary of sustaining too much damage. And after his family shared their concerns, ‘New Mansa’ has announced that his next fight will be his last.

“That fight right there, it was devastating, and it really affected my family,” the welterweight contender said during a recent stream on his Kick channel.

“Listening to my grandmother speak, listening to her praying for me over the phone, really being upset, and her telling me to retire…it took a lot for me to listen and digest it.

“I took some time, I slept on it, prayed about it, and I realized that my grandmother is right,” he continued. “I told her to pray for me and allow me to grace that Octagon one more time. I can’t leave on a loss.

“I’ve gotta save myself from any more miles, any more damage. This is the last one, but we’re gonna make our last one the best one.”

Before being brutally slept by Malott, Buckley dropped unanimous decisions against Kamaru Usman and Sean Brady.

When he does wrap up his career, the 32-year-old will always be remembered in MMA circles for delivering arguably the greatest knockout in the sport’s history, when he finished Impa Kasanganay with a spinning back kick.