Joaquin Buckley bloodied Colby Covington early and poured on plenty of offense afterward, forcing a doctor’s stoppage to win via TKO at the 4:42 mark of the third round in Saturday’s main event at UFC Tampa.
Buckley won his fourth fight of the year and is now 6-0 since dropping down to welterweight in 2023. He’s poised to catapult up the UFC rankings after entering the cage ninth in the division, three spots behind his opponent.
Covington lost his second straight bout, failing to recover from the decision loss to Leon Edwards in a championship setting one year ago. The 36-year-old is 2-4 over his last six fights, though three were for the welterweight title.