UFC Tampa event was headlined by a key welterweight contest featuring Joaquin Buckley taking on Colby Covington.
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 Colby Covington vs. Joaquin Buckley result at UFC Tampa below:
Is he walking out with Hogan and Sonnen?? 😂
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155)
Big fight here! #JustScrap
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom)
Doin all this just to get knocked out
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)
Walk out with @ChaelSonnen AND @HulkHogan holding an American Flag …. That’s a pretty AMERICAN walkout and pretty dope! But still hope Buckley wins. #ufc #walkout #UFCFightNight #UFCTampa
— Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson (@CoreyA_MMA)
10-9 Buckley. Trending towards Buck extending his welterweight record to (6-0) #UFCTampa
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo)
Yall think Hogan is tellin him to do a clothesline into leg drop?? #UFCTampa
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155)
Big cut in the eye early
— C H🖕🏽T O🇪🇨V E R A (@chitoveraUFC)
19-19. Don’t count Colby out just yet!
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo)
Chaels quiet because he realized that Colby does actually suck
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)
Doctor stoppage coming
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho)
Post-fight reactions to Joaquin Buckley defeating Colby Covington at UFC Tampa:
Buckley beat the hell out of Colby for 3 rounds, he is Him #UFCTampa
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155)
😂😂😂 man I knows he’s gonna have a bunch of excuses but he just sucks
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)
@Newmansa94 Yes sir 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH)
Buckley has the most knockouts in the UFC since 2020 #UFCTampa
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo)
Buckley knocks out usman
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)