Last Updated on February 14, 2026 by Pragjyoti Singh
Terence Crawford and Shakur Stevenson recently ruffled some feathers after their comments on a livestream with popular streamer Adin Ross. The two boxers’ claim that boxing was better than the UFC didn’t sit well with welterweight Joaquin Buckley, who immediately fired back at them and called for a stop to the ‘disrespect’ shown to MMA athletes.
Now, even former double champ, Daniel Cormier, has joined in on the conversation with an honest assessment of the age-old MMA vs. Boxing beef.
Daniel Cormier backs Joaquin Buckley after Terence Crawford and Shakur Stevenson’s UFC vs. Boxing remark
During a stream with Adin Ross, Crawford talked about the difference between MMA fighters and Boxers, claiming that the “skill level” was different between the two sports and even stating that the UFC would never surpass boxing in terms of popularity and skill.
When Adin Ross suggested the names of Jon Jones and Ilia Topuria at the two boxers, Stevenson went on to challenge Topuria for a boxing fight. “Tell him to come fight me,” said the 25-0 boxer.
It didn’t take too long for someone from the promotion to respond as welterweight Joaquin Buckley came out swinging for his sport. ‘New Mansa’, in a video, told off the two boxing stars for “disrespecting” MMA and UFC athletes.
“I hate y’all boxers, so disrespectful to us athletes in the UFC. You a h**! You don’t want to go out there and put on your best performance. So with that being said, stop disrespecting us.” Buckley then went on to claim the UFC was more entertaining. “We are way more entertaining than y’all, it just is what it is. When we watch you guys fight, it’s predictable for who is going to win. There’s no excitement in that. In the UFC? You don’t know who’s going to get it. If we came outside literally where I’m at right now, I could kill you.”
In response to Buckley’s challenge to a street fight, Crawford fired back with a post on X, “Who’s even fighting in the streets anymore? Talking about who he can kill in the streets. He must of forgot they make switches for them kind of tough guys.”
After the online spat, former double champ Daniel Cormier took to his podcast and dropped a blunt take on the whole story.
“Joaquin Buckley was right,” stated DC on his podcast. The former double champ and now commentator didn’t hold back as he went on to explain why he believed boxing is not the massive crowd puller it once was. “It doesn’t have to be boxing, because the reality is, there’s no big fights like there were in the past,” he added.
While the 46-year-old confessed that he wished boxing could become as massive as it was decades ago, he also felt there were no big events and superstars to make that a reality, bringing up the likes of Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali into the conversation.
“I want it to be the boxing of the 70s, 80s, 90s. There aren’t enough big events to make us go back to the days when Ali was fighting or when Tyson was fighting. When you had the four kings, and they were all fighting each other. During Lennox Lewis’s time as being the heavyweight champion, it was different back then,” he said.
DC pointed to the fact that despite Crawford’s fight against Canelo Alvarez last year being one of the biggest fights ever, he didn’t feel the excitement watching that or any other big boxing events. “Canelo fought Crawford and it felt like a big event. But honestly, I don’t get super excited for these boxing fights until you get young prospects trying to knock people out like these guys in the past.”
Cormier even compared it to his sport, claiming MMA was just more exciting. “It’s just not that fun, whereas when you get to the UFC, it’s more fun, exciting, and it’s just better. Hats off to Joaquin Buckley for calling that s*** out, because he should’ve called it out. We aren’t boxing; the UFC is better. That’s just the god-honest truth.”
I’m a lifelong MMA enthusiast with a passion for covering the sport’s biggest stories through an unbiased lens. With five years of experience in the MMA media industry, I aim to deliver the highest standard of journalism while covering the UFC and its biggest stars for a global audience. In addition to MMA, I also cover boxing and am an avid soccer (football) fan.
I also have a healthy social media presence and my MMA pages at the time of writing this has over 25K followers on multiple platforms.
You can reach out on my Linkedin for professional services and promotion.