Chael Sonnen reveals he was about to throw in the towel for Colby Covington before doctor stoppage

Chael Sonnen was going to end the UFC Tampa main event had the doctor not.

Just seconds before the end of the third round, the doctor got called in to look at a nasty cut above Covington’s eye. The doctor ended up stopping the fight which Dana White didn’t think would have happened had the fight been in Las Vegas. However, Covington’s new coach, Sonnen said he saw how bad the cut was and was about to throw in the towel.

“Colby was getting hit on his feet with everything you could do,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel about Colby Covington. “”I mean, he’s busted open so bad that the doctor has to look at it three times. Twice, he stops the action to let it keep going. The third time, he goes, ‘We can’t keep going anymore.’ I was going to stop that fight. I already grabbed the towel. When the doctor came in for the third time, and I’m watching that blood,  it’s not stopping. It is going into the eye, and that’s the only thing you’re really looking for.

Chael Sonnen was going to throw the towel in for Colby Covington

“When we as fight fans, we as tough guys, think the doctor should’ve stopped it, we’re talking about it doesn’t really matter how bad the cut is from our perspective, as long as it’s not going in the eye,” Sonnen continued. “If it’s blinding the guy, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little or a lot. If it’s in his eye and he can no longer see out of that eye, it’s the same thing. It’s the exact same thing. If this much blood, a flood of blood still stops you from seeing. This was bad, and it was in the eye. I literally, I stood up so I could see what the Doctor was doing. I told Charlie the number two, and I said ‘Hand me that towel, I’m stopping this.’”

Sonnen says the ref and doctor did the right thing in stopping the fight as the cut above Covington’s eye was bad and hindered his vision.

With the loss to Joquin Buckley, Colby Covington fell to 17-5 as a pro.