UFC Tampa blew the roof off Amalie Arena last Saturday night (Dec. 14, 2024) in Tampa. Fla., leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Billy Quarantillo, who was knocked out cold by longtime veteran, Cub Swanson (see it here).
And Vitor Petrino, who was also starched by Dustin Jacoby (highlights), while Ottman Azaitar was slept by a vicious right hand courtesy of Michael Johnson (see it again here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Colby Covington.
Coming into the event, Covington was looking to get back on track and erase the memory of his loss to former Welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, a year ago. With all of that time to ponder, “Chaos” was chomping at the bit to return to action in order to get back into the win column.
Unfortunately for him, things just didn’t work out the way he expected.
While he did come out aggressive as he usually does, things quickly went south after Joaquin Buckley started connecting shots. And “New Mansa” hits hard…very hard. And in the blink of an eye Covington’s face soon became a bloody mess. While he tried his hardest to fight through all of the blood, in the third round the punishment came to an end after the ringside doctor decided enough was enough.
Still, it seemed as if a stoppage was likely around the corner regardless, and Buckley will now take a huge leap in the rankings that will get him closer to his dreams of fighting for his first-ever UFC title. As far as Covington is concerned, those days may be far behind him.
As if losing his second straight wasn’t bad enough, when we take it back a bit further he has now lost three of his last four, and he simply doesn’t look like the same Covington that had championship material written all over him. He did part ways with his longtime camp at American Top Team (ATT) around the time his funk started, which can definitely pay a big part in his woes.
Nevertheless, Covington will have a long and arduous road back to contention. As far was what could be next for him, there are some fights out there that are tasty for “Chaos.” But if we want to stray away from the norm, I would love nothing more than to see a fight against Dustin Poirier.
“The Diamond” and Covington were once training under the same roof at ATT, but the two men simply did not get along. In 2022, Covington said he’d love nothing more than to settle his personal beef with Poirier and the they had a run-in earlier this year at a restaurant in New York City, so the bad blood is still very much there.
Poirier was on the fence when it came to retiring following his loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302, but did say he’d hang around for the right fight. Covington won’t be competing for a title anytime soon, and Poirier just wants his next bout to be worth his time. This just feels right.
For complete UFC Tampa results and play-by-play, click here.