“Sin City” is the fight capital for a reason.
Former three-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight title challenger Colby Covington suffered his second straight at UFC Tampa last night (Sat., Dec. 14, 2024) when his fight with Joaquin Buckley was stopped in the third round due to a nasty cut from inside Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla (watch highlights).
UFC CEO Dana White spoke with the media after UFC Tampa and gave his thoughts on the doctor stoppage (watch here).
“Yeah, I was curious to see how it would go if it went five rounds, you know if it went into the later rounds,” White said. “No doubt that was a bad cut. But that fight doesn’t get stopped in Vegas. That fight keeps going in Vegas. 100%.”
According to the cageside doctor who advised for the fight to be stopped, Covington was in the process of losing an eyelid. It definitely could have been in the moment because once the blood was wiped away, it seemed like a cut that fans witness every two weeks (or maybe I’m just desensitized to blood and violence)
But to White’s point, the Las Vegas doctors do let fighters continue to compete with half of their face ripped off like Irene Aldana earlier this year at Noche UFC inside the Sphere. Another nasty gash was Gregory Rodrigues’ cut against Chidi Njokuani.
Nevertheless, because of the somewhat questionable stoppage, everyone can expect Covington to hop on social media in the coming days to say it was early and that he was on his way to stopping Buckley.
For complete UFC Tampa results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.