Joaquin Buckley gives bizarre, completely silent interview at UFC Edmonton

Joaquin Buckley has never shied away from the spotlight during fight week. But ahead of his main event bout against Mike Malott at UFC Edmonton on Saturday, the typically outspoken welterweight took a very different approach.

During Friday's ceremonial weigh-ins, Buckley refused to shake Dana White's hand when the UFC CEO extended it on stage. Instead, Buckley ignored White and went straight into his face-off with Malott, never breaking eye contact with his opponent.

Shortly after the weigh-ins, Buckley was pulled aside for an interview with UFC on Paramount+, but he didn't answer a single question. Instead, Buckley simply stared straight into the camera for the entire minute-long interview as Mackenzie Pavlovich tried to ask him about his preparation and mindset.

The new persona is quite the change for Buckley, who has built a reputation as one of the more vocal and playful fighters on the UFC roster. But there's probably a reason why he's ramping up the intensity a bit.

Buckley enters Saturday's fight on a two-fight losing streak, and he admitted that he expected that he would be cut from the UFC with a loss in his previous fight at UFC 328. That obviously didn't happen, as Buckley is back for another fight, but it seems like he's taking quite a different approach this time around.

Malott, meanwhile, is riding a four-fight win streak and will be fighting in front of a home crowd in Canada.