Terence Crawford Fires Back at UFC Fighter's Street Fight Taunts

Buckley and Crawford go Back-and-Forth

The debate was sparked by Terence Crawford’s recent appearance on Adin Ross’s Kick stream alongside Shakur Stevenson. 

The two boxers were talking about how their sport was superior to MMA, with Crawford saying, “The UFC will never be better than boxing."

UFC welterweight Joaquin Buckley recently took to social media to voice his frustration with Crawford’s claims of superiority, firing off challenges rooted in a hypothetical context outside of ring rules (via Joaquin Buckley on X):

Buckley asserted to boxers that, “If we came outside… I could kill you,” a provocative line that reflected his belief in MMA’s practical effectiveness in unregulated scenarios. "I'm not saying I want to kill you or take you off this Earth. But realistically, I would kill you if we fought. Hand-to-hand combat."

Buckley also urged boxers, "Stop disrespecting us, bro. We are all more entertaining than y'all. And y'all try to say y'all are the real fighters. How?"

Crawford weighed in on X, defending his sport while insulting Buckley:

He followed up with another post on X, saying, “Who’s even fighting in the streets anymore? Talking about who he can kill in the streets. He must have forgot they make switches for them kind of tough guys.”

“Bud” made it clear that he views the debate through the lens of sport rather than real-world violence and that violence on the street would inevitably involve weapons and turn fatal. This is something Crawford is familiar with, as he was the victim of a gunshot wound before becoming a professional boxer (via Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast):

One X user, however, took issue with Crawford’s stance, calling out his hypocrisy. In the post , the anonymous account referenced how Crawford spoke on Instagram live about beating Gary Russell Jr. in a fight back in 2020 (via FightHype on YouTube): 

“Bud” responded to the anonymous user on X with a post of his own, saying, “You should watch your tongue if you don’t know what you talking about. First of all, he wasn’t talking about me fighting him in the streets, dumb boy.”

Crawford ended his rant with the admission that he has no desire to fight outside a sanctioned boxing ring, and that his boxing skillset puts him at the disadvantage against an MMA fighter (via Terence Crawford on X):

Boxing vs. MMA

This exchange arrives amid ongoing discussions about cross-discipline bouts, crossover fights, and how each fighting style would fare outside their typical rulesets.

It also arose shortly after Shakur Stevenson called out UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria to a boxing match.

Despite Buckley taking Crawford’s comments on the Adin Ross stream personally, Crawford, in that very same stream, emphasized that each sport has its own strengths and that comparisons should respect those differences.

“UFC is good for what they do, and we’re good for what we do,” Crawford said. “You’ve got to think, if I can’t whoop you with my hands, I can kick you, I can take you down. It’s a whole different mental capacity.”