Colby Covington, the former interim welterweight champion, is still upset about his TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley a few weeks after the December 14 event.
Covington filled in to fight Buckley in the main event of UFC on ESPN 63 after Buckley’s original opponent, Ian Machado Garry, was matched up against Shavkat Rakhmonov instead. It had been a year since Covington’s last fight, where he lost to Leon Edwards at UFC 296 in December 2023.
The fight did not go Covington’s way as Buckley defended takedowns and landed punches on him. The match was stopped in the third round due to a severe cut above Covington’s right eye. Covington believes the fight was ended prematurely and that he would have emerged victorious if it had continued.
“The fight, you know, we were just getting warmed up,” Covington mentioned on his YouTube channel. “Everyone knows I’m a fourth and fifth-round fighter, I’m just getting started getting into those championship rounds. I could’ve finished him in that fourth and fifth round, he was breathing heavy. He didn’t have much more to offer, he wasn’t going to have much volume in those last rounds.”
“It was a close competitive fight, he didn’t outclass me, he didn’t drop me, he didn’t really hurt me,” Covington added. “There was a little cut that happened, and I rewatched it back. It was like minute two, and it was like a headbutt right off his hip or something. But, it wasn’t a punch… It’s unfortunate that DEI doctor stopped the fight early. I thought it was just getting started, and there was a lot more that needed to be settled in there.”
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