Colby Covington doesn’t see his latest loss as a legitimate loss.
The official result of Saturday’s UFC Tampa main event was a TKO win due to a doctor stoppage for Joaquin Buckley, who battered Covington with hard punches that opened up a gnarly cut over Covington’s right eye early in the fight. By Round 3, Covington’s face was covered in blood and a ringside physician ruled that Covington could not continue.
UFC CEO Dana White later told reporters he believed if the bout was held in Las Vegas, the doctor would not have stopped the fight. In a behind-the-scenes video posted to Covington’s YouTube channel, the three-time UFC title challenger agreed when told of White’s comments as he was being stitched up.
“That’s what I’m going to say, too,” Covington said. “Bullshit. It was building, a five-round fight.”
In a subsequent interview, Covington pointed to the relative short-notice nature of the fight (he stepped in to replace Ian Machado Garry on a month’s notice after Garry was reassigned to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310) and that he doesn’t feel Buckley was close to putting him away as reasons to be encouraged by his performance.
“We’re going to be back stronger than ever,” Covington said. “This is just the beginning for me. I wasn’t at my best tonight. I came off the couch, but it was for the company. I did this for the company that I love so much that changed my life. I know that there’s still a lot of fight in me and the best is yet to come."
Colby Covington calls UFC Tampa doctor stoppage loss ‘bullsh*t’ - MMA Fighting
