Joaquin Buckley vows to retire Colby Covington at UFC Tampa
Joaquin Buckley believes Saturday night will be the last time Colby Covington competes inside the Octagon.
Buckley is set to take on Covington in the main event of UFC Tampa in a highly-anticipated welterweight bout. Buckley enters the fight as a sizeable betting favorite in the biggest test of his career.
If Joaquin Buckley does beat Colby Covington he’d be right in the title picture. Although beating Covington will be tough, but Buckley has full confidence that he won’t just win, but will also retire Covington on Saturday night.
"We going to retire this man."@Newmansa94 is looking to put an end Colby Covington's career tomorrow night 👀
[ #UFCTampa is LIVE on @ESPNPlus | 10pmET ] pic.twitter.com/EK2UDZqAvo
— UFC (@ufc) December 13, 2024
“Be honest with you, bro, I’m just happy to be out here in Tampa. Eh, Tampa, y’all have been showing me so much love, I appreciate you all. At the end of the day, man, look this dude has been quiet. He plays a character and now he wants to be soft with it. At the end of the day, we are going to into that cage and retire this man and send his ass off to Twitch. Let’s get it,” Buckley said after the ceremonial weigh-ins.
Colby Covington is 36 and turns 37 in February so if he loses to Joaquin Buckley perhaps he does retire. He would be out of the title picture and would need to win multiple fights in a row, so whether or not he would want to continue competing is uncertain. So, perhaps Buckley is right and with a win, he would send Covington into retirement.
Joaquin Buckley eyes KO win over Colby Covington
Joaquin Buckley knows beating Colby Covington at UFC Tampa does wonders for his career.
Buckley is undefeated at welterweight since moving down to the division. Against Covington, Buckley believes he will be able to KO the former interim champ and could secure the next title shot.
“I feel like I’m leapfrogging over Shavkat. I feel like he’s injury-prone, too, I feel like he’s always getting injured, something’s always wrong with him,” Buckley said at UFC Tampa media day. “So, he might not even show up to the fight, and it might just be me and Belal next year. But yet again, the performance has got to speak first. I can’t just go out there and get my hand raised by a split decision. Then I don’t want it. But if I go out there and do what I know I can do, get the Knockout of the Year, then yeah, I’m taking my belt.”
Buckley is 20-6 as a pro and riding a five-fight winning streak. He’s coming off a KO win over Stephen Thompson back in October.
