Pros react after Joaquin Buckley TKO’s Colby Covington at UFC Tampa

By Chris Taylor - December 14, 2024

Tonight’s UFC Tampa event was headlined by a key welterweight contest featuring Joaquin Buckley taking on Colby Covington.

Colby Covington and Joaquin Buckley

Buckley (24-3 MMA) had entered tonight’s contest sporting a five-fight winning streak, his most previous victory being a knockout of former title challenger Stephen Thompson this past October in Salt Lake City. ‘New Mansa’ had gone 9-1 over his past ten Octagon appearances prior to tonight’s event.

Meanwhile, Colby Covington (17-5 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since suffering a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards in a fight for the welterweight title at UFC 296 last December. Prior to that setback, the former interim welterweight champion was coming off a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272.

Tonight’s UFC Tampa main event proved to be a solid back and forth affair. Joaquin Buckley was able to get the better of Colby Covington on the feet, however ‘Chaos’ was able to find some success on the ground. Unfortunately, Colby suffered a bad cut to his eye and after some serious leakage, the referee called in the doctor to assess Covington’s damage in round three. The doctor said Colby’s eye lid was compromised and decided to call the fight.

Official UFC Tampa Results: Joaquin Buckley def. Colby Covington via TKO (doctor stoppage) in Round 3

Check out how the pros reacted to ‘Covington vs. Buckley’ below:

Post-fight reactions to Joaquin Buckley defeating Colby Covington at UFC Tampa:

Who would you like to see Joaquin Buckley fight next following his TKO victory over Colby Covington this evening in Florida?