Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley, UFC Tampa ceremonial weigh-ins on the Amalie Area, Dec. 13, 2024 Credit score: Jay Anderson/Cageside Press
Colby Covington regarded to re-establish his relevance, whereas Joaquin Buckley was in quest of the largest win of his profession in the principle occasion of UFC Tampa on Saturday. The previous interim champion got here into this combat because the betting underdog regardless of having by no means misplaced on a UFC Struggle Night time in his profession (8-0).
Covington was stepping in to switch Ian Machado Garry, who had shifted to UFC 310 final week in a combat with Shavkat Rakhmonov. With Covington, got here his traditional model of “Chaos,” a nickname that he has grown into due to the deluge of trash speak he tends to unleash forward of each combat. This outing, it was P. Diddy allegations lodged at NBA star LeBron James, and terrorist references lobbed in the direction of welterweight champ Belal Muhammad.
On Buckley, Covington was maybe unusually quiet; he even introduced Chael Sonnen with him to the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday, letting one of many sport’s finest talkers take to the mic for him. Sonnen opted to stay to combat hype, maybe saving Covington from additional embarrassment. Covington, who had overvalued his entrance throughout combat week, walked out with Sonnen and Hulk Hogan carrying an American flag by his facet.
Buckley got here out placing quick stress and establishing his jab early. He landed a pleasant low kick to one-two mixture. The primary takedown try from Colby was simply stuffed. A minimize on Covington’s proper eye lid clearly began to hassle him. Buckley took benefit and threw extra combos coming ahead. They had been each throwing looping pictures, however Buckley was getting the higher of those exchanges. Covington shot a double-leg, switched to single-leg, however Buckley utterly outmuscled him. He then caught Covington mid-headkick with a proper hook and ends the spherical touchdown ground-and-pound.
Buckley sprawled on one other takedown try and landed a great knee to the physique on his means up within the early moments of spherical 2. He saved attacking Colby’s physique with hooks, stopping him from pushing his traditional tempo. Fourth time was the attraction for Covington as he lastly obtained Buckley to the bottom and took facet management. Buckley tried to get to a hip and publish on one arm, however Colby did a great job of controlling his wrists to remove his stability. Buckley ultimately did get again up and obtained again to successful the hanging battle as Colby’s minimize was clearly hampering his means to see oncoming strikes. A extra aggressive 5 minutes, however primarily based on harm, a Buckley spherical nonetheless.
Because the third spherical was about to start out, we may hear the octagon-side physician telling referee Dan Miragliotta to maintain a detailed take a look at the minimize over Covington’s proper eye. The spherical began with a right away telegraphed takedown try from “Chaos” that was simply seen from distant. Buckley saved mixing up physique and head strikes and the buildup grounded Covington.
Buckley obtained full mount, however not for lengthy as Colby obtained again to his toes. By this level Covington’s face is a whole mess and because the blood is evidently obstructing his view, Buckley can’t miss together with his punches. The combat obtained the bottom once more and Buckley obtained high place, however an ill-advised again take try resulted in an uncommon triangle try from him that Covington obtained out of. With Colby on high and Buckley accepting full guard, Colby landed little ground-and-pound pictures making an attempt to grind away at Buckley’s gasoline tank. As soon as Buckley obtained to the fence and obtained again up, referee Dan Miragliotta known as time for the physician to take a more in-depth take a look at Covington’s minimize. The physician suggested Miragliotta to cease it, and he did.
Physician stoppages typically really feel anti-climactic, however with a minimize on the attention lid that was clearly having a giant impact on the combat, it was a justified stoppage.
Official Consequence: Joaquin Buckley def. Colby Covington by Physician’s Stoppage (Spherical 3, 4:42)
