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UFC Fight Night: Covington v Buckley — Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Last night (Sat., Dec. 14, 2024), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida for UFC Tampa. The final event of 2024 promised to end with a bang rather than a whimper and indeed did feature some tremendous knockouts throughout the evening. There were fun fighters filling out the event from top-to-bottom, and the main event was plenty intriguing. Fans have wanted to see Colby Covington defend his ranking against an up-and-comer for years now, and it finally happened!

Let’s take a look back over at UFC Tampa’s best performances and techniques:

Buckley Breaks Covington

I doubt Buckley could have envisioned a much better performance. Sure, a true knockout rather than a cut stoppage would have been nice, but nobody who watched the fight is holding that against him. It was an absolutely one-sided smashing, an evening in which Buckley wrecked his opponent’s entire month without hardly taking a punch.

I also don’t think we give Buckley enough credit for his intelligence. Obviously, he’s a tremendous athlete with great explosive attributes, but the man has a process too. He approached this fight with some really smart tactical choices. Hammering the body is the most obvious one. He did so with right hooks in the pocket and slamming knees, using both weapons to punish Covington’s takedown and clinch attempts. I don’t care how good Covington’s cardio is, nobody is feeling fresh as a daisy after a dozen Buckley body rips. In effect, he took away one of Covington’s greatest strengths by leveling the output playing field with body work.

Another neat wrinkle here was Buckley’s kicking game. He used linear side kicks to interrupt Covington’s movement, inside low kicks to weave into left hooks, and sneaky high kicks to punctuate combinations. At one point, I’m pretty sure I saw a triple jab. “New Mansa” is not a brawler with big power — he’s a crafty MMA fighter who clearly studies the game.

After last night, he’ll likely be in the Top Five as well. Finally, the Welterweight tide is turning over.

Killer Cub Still Got It!

Cub Swanson just added another legendary “Fight of the Night” (I wrote this before the official announcement, but I’m feeling confident in my prediction) and knockout win to his legacy as an all-time great action fighter. He shouldn’t be this good at 41 years of age! Somehow, the Featherweight is still quite fast and carries the same hammer in his right hand. His cardio and durability have faded a bit, sure, but Swanson remains a very hard out for much of the division.

It’s unbelievable.

The fight itself, of course, was awesome. Swanson landed his right hand at will for most of the first round, and somehow, Billy Quarantillo ate ‘em. “Billy Q” started finding his own success towards the end of the round and into the second. He countered Swanson’s head movement with intercepting knees, landed counter punches as Swanson hung around in the pocket, and racked up a bit of control time with his wrestling.

All the while, Swanson did cool s—t. He’d roll into the pocket and double tap the body. He attempted a tricky foot sweep/trip mid-exchange and tried to play octopus guard during a wrestling scramble. He’s accrued so many veteran tricks up his sleeve, one wonders just how damn good he’d be if miraculously we transported his current mind back into his 28-year-old body.

None of the tricks won the fight, however. Victory came down to fundamentals. In round three, Swanson started flicking jabs to great effect. Those snapping shots costed little energy while still slowing Quarantillo’s forward pressure. As such, Swanson had a little more time to breathe, a little more time to line up that signature right hand.

It landed. Quarantillo fell. Walk off.

A Record-Setting Flyweight Bout?

Manel Kape vs. Bruno Silva was great fun. “Starboy” is a wild card, and you never really know when he’s going to show up and throw down … or wait aimlessly for the counter. His last bout versus Muhammad Mokaev was particularly disappointing. Fortunately, Silva is wildly aggressive, which played right into Kape’s hands.

The Portuguese fighter is brilliantly fast. His ability to spring forward with crisp shots from either stance is fun to watch. Within a few minutes, Silva’s face was bleeding freely and Kape was showboating. The pace remained high, however, as Silva continued to swing for the fences.

The downside was all the low blows. Has there ever been this many in a three-round Flyweight fight? Silva landed at least three painful ones and lost a point in the process. Kape may have returned the favor in the third with a snap kick that seemed to glance the cup. Silva tried to get the referee to intervene, but Kape swarmed him and instead forced the finish.

Some may cry foul or bad sportsmanship, but I’m not surprised Kape showed no mercy after getting kick low that many times himself. Afterward, he cut a great promo for a title shot. A little more consistency would be great first, but I’m remained convinced either way that Kape on a good night has championship potential.

Out Of NOWHERE!

Vitor Petrino vs. Dustin Jacoby produced one of the year’s nastiest knockouts, but it wasn’t a ton of fun until that moment. Neither man could really find his range and get comfortable throwing volume, which meant there was a lot of hesitation and swinging at air from both.

Petrino is very clearly one of the most athletic men in the division, and he’s massive as well. The problem is he doesn’t have a ton of technical skill. His stance is still awkward and unbalanced, even when throwing dangerous punches. Jacoby, far more experienced and crafty but without that otherworldly athleticism, used patience to unravel his foe. He didn’t make any mistakes or brawl with the younger man. He fought behind his jab and movement, waiting for his moment.

That strategy didn’t make for stellar viewing as mentioned, but it was all worth it when Jacoby timed a perfect right hand inside a Petrino left hook. Petrino crumbled to the floor face-first, and Jacoby returned to the win column with serious style points.

22 Wins, 22 Finishes

It’s time to get Joel Alvarez off the undercard and into ranked match ups.

The Spanish fighter isn’t perfect. His wrestling remains something of a liability, and he’s struggled to make weight on a couple of occasions. Even considering those issues, it’s really hard to watch him fight and not think he has elite potential. The Spanish “Phenom” is a masterful finisher and incredible offensive talent, and he’s proven it time and time again.

His opponent, Drakkar Klose, is a very talented veteran who was riding a four-fight win streak leading into this match up — not for a second did Alvarez seem remotely concerned about his foe’s game. He walked towards Klose with zero fear. Even when taken down, his confidence was entirely unshaken. As soon as he got back up and began throwing, he was landing and hurting Klose.

Klose has slugged it out with plenty of dangerous opponents, but he had nothing on the feet for Alvarez. In seconds, he was wounded and ducked into a perfect flying knee, which stole his consciousness in an instant.

A must-watch Lightweight, Alvarez has now won seven of his last eight and more than deserves a ranked name for next.

Additional Thoughts

Michael Johnson defeats Ottman Azaitar via second-round knockout (highlights): “The Menace” straight up outclassed his opponent here. He and his team game planned well for the straightforward puncher, clearly focusing on blocking the overhand and firing back in combination. Johnson hurt Azaitar multiples times before his strategy worked perfectly in the second, where he landed his best counter right hook since flattening Dustin Poirier all those years ago. If we don’t hold incompetent judges against him, Johnson has essentially won five of his last six. Not bad for a 38 year old famous for inconsistency!
Sean Woodson defeats Fernando Padilla via first-round knockout (highlights): For quite some time now, it’s been obvious that Woodson is a slick boxer by MMA standards. He tends to do a lot of poking and quick combinations, however, which doesn’t always produce finishes. Padilla, a fellow lanky 145-pounder, forced the issue immediately and subsequently made Woodson sit down on his shots more in the face of that aggression. Padilla couldn’t sustain his own early surge forward, and as soon as he settled down, Woodson really started touching him up. The damage was building until a pair of nasty hooks floored Padilla, extending Woodson’s unbeaten streak to seven. He called for a ranked opponent in his next fight, and it’s definitely time!

For complete UFC Tampa results and play-by-play, click here.