Joaquin Buckley Destroys Covington’s Face, Cut Ends the Fight – Usman Next?

Michael Johnson Delivers a Crushing KO to Azaitar in Round 2!

Swanson Shocks the Crowd with a Stunning Knockout in the Final Seconds!

December 14th, 2024

PRELIMS

FIGHT #1 (Women’s Strawweight)
RED: Josephine Knutsson
BLUE: Piera Rodriguez

Rd 1: Vicious elbows from the top for Rodriguez to end the round. I give Rd 1 to Rodriguez.
RD 2: Rodriguez takes her down 40 seconds into Rd 2. They get to their feet. Takes her down again 2 minutes in. In guard. She gets full mount, but gets tossed in a scramble. Back to feet. They both look gassed. Rodriguez seems to be controlling the fight. Exchange elbows to the forehead. Rodriguez‘s head is split open above her right eye. Blood everywhere. Round ends. Camera cuts to Rodriguez‘s busted face, crowd goes wild!
RD 3: Rodriguez gets top control. Not much action. With 10 seconds left, Rodriguez postures up and rains down.

Piera Rodriguez def. Josefine Knutsson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

FINAL: Decision, all 3 for Rodriguez. The girls hug and show respect.

FIGHT #2 (Bantamweight)
RED: Davey Grant
BLUE: Ramon Tavares

PRE: Tavares seems to be a favorite by the crowd. He’s from Davie County, Florida. Grant got boos when introduced, as he’s from England.
RD 1: Crowd is chanting “USA.” On the feet at 2 minutes still. Grant is throwing some heavy kicks. They exchange a few times in the phone booth. Then, Grant kicks him in the groin. Fight stops and crowd “boos.” Round ends on the feet. Seems like Davey Grant got the better of Rd 1.
Rd 2: Grant seems to slip and fall, Tavares lets him up. Grant is definitely throwing way more kicks that seem to be landing and keeping Tavares from rushing in. Kicks to the front of the knee. Tavares seemed to land the heavier punches. Nothing too significant.
RD 3: Crowd is pumped and loud for Ramon Tavares. Tavares eats a couple of heavy punches early in the round. Tavares returns fire and lands a few solid punches himself. Grant lands a solid 3-punch combination at 2:45 of Rd 3. Seems to stun Tavares. They fight on. Grant still throwing heavy kicks, Tavares hasn’t thrown any kicks. Grant is pressing. Grant seems to be getting the better of Tavares. Still throwing multiple kicks with little response or corrections from Tavares. Then, they stand in the middle and trade for the final 25 seconds. Crowd goes wild. Grant smiles, as if he knows he’s taking this fight. Ends. They smile at each other and give a nod.

Davey Grant def. Ramon Taveras via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

DECISION: Unanimous decision, Davey Grant.

FIGHT #3 (Women’s Flyweight)
RED: Miranda Maverick
BLUE: Jamey-Lyn Horth

PRE: Maverick came out to the Top Gun theme song with fighter pilot sunglasses.
RD 1: Maverick goes for takedown most of the round, looking for a double leg. Horth is good at defending. Stale round. Not much action or significant punches landed.
RD 2: Maverick catches a kick and goes for a single leg takedown but is denied. At 2:35, Horth takes her down and takes Maverick’s back. She goes for a rear-naked choke, but the chin is in. Maverick gets out and scrambles to top control. Now she’s taking the back of Horth. Then Horth reverses and has top control. Maverick tries to scramble to her feet and is successful. Horth is hanging onto her back when the round ends. Seems to be a Horth round.
RD 3: Back and forth to 3 minutes, not much action. Then, Maverick gets a takedown. She’s not doing much from side control. Moves to full guard. Then they stay tangled up for another minute. Horth seems to be going for a leg or heel lock, but is unsuccessful. They get back to their feet at 30 seconds. Round ends. Maverick seems to think she did enough to get the win.

Miranda Maverick def. Jamey-Lyn Horth via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

DECISION: Unanimous decision, Maverick.

FIGHT #4 (Featherweight)
RED: Miles Johns
BLUE: Felipe Lima

PRE: Miles Johns looks extremely pumped and ready to go.

RD 1: Lima cracks Johns at around 3 minutes, stuns him for sure. Round ends, and Johns seems like he still wants more, staring down Lima.
RD 2: These guys are quick and strong, swinging with very bad intentions. Johns visually looks like the bigger man, but Lima seems to be connecting more and with more solid force. Johns comes in with a multiple punch combo, but Lima times it right and thrusts forward, taking Johns down. Lima is on top in full guard. Lima goes for a darce choke in a scramble. Johns gets out and takes Lima’s back. Lima scrambles and gets away after about 20 seconds against the fence. They seem to be taunting each other, smiling and pointing in the middle of the ring. Johns connects with a big punch that almost puts Lima down, crowd reacts. Round ends, yet these 2 fighters are still talking trash and even go forehead to forehead after the round ended. Ref has to separate them.
RD 3: Stare down from Johns with a grin before the round starts, pacing back and forth. Lima jumps and takes the back at 2:45. They end up on the ground, Lima on top. Lima takes the back. Seems the better fighter on the ground. Goes for the choke, but the chin is in. Johns has energy, scrambles and reverses. They keep scrambling. Johns seems to be the fresher fighter, but the round ends before he can get anything going.

Felipe Lima def. Miles Johns via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

DECISION: Unanimous decision, Felipe Lima.

FIGHT #5 (Featherweight)
RED: Sean Woodson
BLUE: Fernando Padilla

RD 1: Padilla slips and ends up on his back with Woodson on top. They scramble to their feet. Padilla is pressing Woodson, who is against the fence. Both are skinny, long fighters, but Padilla is longer. Padilla is pressing but has no answer for the punches to his face by Woodson. Padilla has his hands up, but they are low, and Woodson keeps touching his face. Woodson lands a nasty kick to the ankle, twisting Padilla around and to the ground. He quickly gets up. Both fighters are tired. Padilla keeps allowing Woodson to land single shots to the face. They exchange, and Woodson lands a solid uppercut, stuns Padilla, and he goes down to the ground fazed and foggy. Woodson jumps on top with 5 seconds remaining in the 1st round. Ground and pound to a defenseless Padilla, and the ref has seen enough. He stops the fight for a TKO with only seconds left. First finish of the night. Huge pop from the crowd.

FIGHT #6 (Lightweight)
RED: Joel Alvarez
BLUE: Drakkar Klose

RD 1: Alvarez is methodically stalking Klose. Klose looks very jumpy and on edge. Alvarez is calm and lands a nice first punch. They end up on the ground and quickly scramble to their feet. Again, Alvarez seems super calm, almost like he knows if he waits for the right time, he’ll land big. Then Alvarez does just that. Lands a punch square on the nose, which stuns Klose as he falls back. Alvarez runs toward him to attack and lands a flying knee. Klose is basically out as Alvarez one-handed puts Klose in a headlock, punching with the other fist. Ref stops the fight. He makes his 22nd win and 22nd finish.

Joel Alvarez def. Drakkar Klose via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:48 @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

FIGHT #7 (Lightweight)
RED: Michael Johnson
BLUE: Ottman Azaitar

RD 1: Not much was thrown in the first two minutes, as both fighters were feeling each other out. They both threw powerful punches, landing just as much as they were receiving. Then, with 20 seconds left in Round 1, Michael Johnson landed a punch that wobbled and stunned Azaitar a bit. The crowd popped. I believe Johnson won this round.
RD 2: They decided to have multiple exchanges on the feet in a phone booth. On the 3rd or 4th exchange, Michael Johnson landed a nasty combination of 2 right-hand punches, knocking Azaitar out as he was falling toward the canvas. Johnson jumped on top and landed a few more punches for good measure. The ref stepped in and called a stop at 2:03 of Round 2.

Michael Johnson def. Ottman Azaitar via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 2:03 @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

KO: Michael Johnson wins by knockout.

MAIN CARD

FIGHT #8 (Light Heavyweight)
RED: Navajo Stirling
BLUE: Tuco Tokkos

RD 1: Stirling looked massive compared to Tokkos and controlled the center of the octagon. Stirling definitely controlled the pace of the first round, landing the harder punches and rocking Tokkos a few times. However, each time Tokkos shook his head “no,” acting as if the punches weren’t causing him any damage. Tokkos appeared gassed and backed up against the cage. The crowd began booing at this point. They ended up on the ground with Stirling on top as the round ended.
RD 2: Round 2 started with more of the same, Stirling stalking and owning the center of the cage. Then, out of nowhere, Tokkos took Stirling’s back! He tried to slam him but couldn’t. Tokkos managed to take Stirling down and get on top. Tokkos seemed to get better results when they were close, but the fight got back to the feet, and Stirling landed a nice combination. Tokkos was in a shell, taking the punches well, but seemed slow and labored. Stirling appeared to be the fresher fighter as the round went on. Tokkos did manage to take Stirling down toward the end of the round, but the crowd was restless, as they both seemed to be resting on each other. Round ends.
RD 3: Stirling landed the first solid punch of Round 3. Tokkos clinched and rested against Stirling without working. The crowd didn’t like this at all, as Tokkos was visibly gassed. With 1 minute remaining, Tokkos looked defeated and repeatedly looked up at the clock. He went for a very slow takedown with 25 seconds left, but ended up on the bottom as the round ended.

Navajo Stirling def. Tuco Tokkos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

DECISION: Unanimous decision for Stirling.

FIGHT #9 (Bantamweight)
RED: Adrian Yanez
BLUE: Daniel Marcos

RD 1: Both fighters came out swinging, fast on their feet. Marcos landed a solid overhand right to Yanez’s chin, wobbling him. However, Marcos was not quick to over-engage and cleared the cobwebs. A few moments later, Marcos accidentally poked Yanez in the eye, and he went down grabbing his eye. The ref stopped the fight briefly, with the crowd booing, as they felt Yanez was looking for a way out of the fight. However, Yanez seemed okay to continue, and they resumed at 2:40 remaining in the round. Marcos seemed to get the better of the exchanges after the restart. Yanez got a body lock, but couldn’t do much with it, pressing Marcos against the fence. The crowd was restless, booing for more action. Marcos definitely won Round 1.
RD 2: Marcos got rocked early in Round 2 with a solid overhand right to the chin. Yanez took the center of the cage, controlling the pace and landing heavy body punches. Yanez picked up the pace and started to even out the fight. He landed a few solid shots late in Round 2. Yanez takes Round 2.
RD 3: The round started with both fighters standing in the middle and trading bombs. After an exciting first 20 seconds, they went to the ground with Marcos on top. Both fighters were gassed, and the crowd began yelling, “Stand them up!” at 1:15 remaining. It seemed like whoever dominated the last minute would win the fight. With 45 seconds left, Marcos appeared to have lost steam and wasn’t engaging. The fight ended, and Marcos gestured like he had done enough to win. It was in the hands of the judges.

Daniel Marcos def. Adrian Yanez via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28) @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

DECISION: Split decision goes to Marcos. He remains undefeated.

FIGHT #10 (Light Heavyweight)
RED: Vitor Petrino
BLUE: Dustin Jacoby

RD 1: Petrino looked huge, and Jacoby spent most of the first round backing up against the fence while Petrino moved forward. Not much action occurred, but Petrino gets the edge for being the aggressor.
RD 2: Round 2 started the same way as Round 1, with Jacoby being defensive and reactionary. They connected 30 seconds in, and Petrino got the better of the exchange. At 2:10 remaining, Petrino rocked Jacoby with a punch to the chin. Both fighters were bouncing around but without much action or significant contact. Round 2 ended, and the crowd started booing.
RD 3: The crowd was louder in their boos. Many people had their phone lights on, unsure what it signified. Then, out of nowhere, Jacoby knocked Petrino out with one punch. The crowd went wild!

Dustin Jacoby def. Vitor Petrino via knockout (punch) – Round 3, 3:44 @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

KO: Dustin Jacoby wins by knockout.

FIGHT #11 (Flyweight)
RED: Manel Kape (8)
BLUE: Bruno Silva (12)

RD 1: Kape showcased very unorthodox movement, which seemed to throw Silva off a bit. Silva kicked Kape in the groin twice during the round. It was not an exciting round overall.
RD 2: Kape landed a nasty combination on the feet, then started showboating. However, Silva kicked him in the groin again, and this time it was bad. Kape was on his back in pain. The ref rightfully took 1 point from Silva. Kape continued to showboat, putting his hands behind his back and getting into Silva’s head. He landed some punches, and the crowd was definitely behind Kape.
RD 3: Both fighters were swinging with bad intentions, trying to knock the other out. Silva had a cut over his right eye that started to bleed. Then, Kape caught Silva with a leg kick to the stomach. Silva curled up and fell to the ground, and Kape got on top to finish with ground and pound, securing the TKO victory.

Manel Kape def. Bruno Silva via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:57 @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

FINAL: Manel Kape by TKO.

FIGHT #12 (Featherweight)
RED: Cub Swanson
BLUE: Billy Quarantillo

RD 1: The crowd favorite was clearly Billy Quarantillo, who came out faster and crisper with his punches. Cub Swanson seemed a bit slow. Quarantillo caught him a few times, almost putting Cub away. Quarantillo clearly won Round 1.
RD 2: Swanson was taking a beating, but he’s a warrior and wouldn’t go out. Quarantillo dominated Round 2.
RD 3: Quarantillo started to slow down significantly, looking tired and worn out. Swanson began throwing his jab consistently, landing it several times. Swanson found his rhythm. Then, out of nowhere, Swanson threw a left-right combination, landing both punches and knocking Quarantillo out cold. The crowd was in shock!

Cub Swanson def. Billy Quarantillo KO (punch) at 1:36 of RD 3 @ UFC Fight Night: Covington vs Buckley in Tampa, FL

RESULT: Cub Swanson by KO at 1:36 of Round 3.

FIGHT #13 (Welterweight)
RED: Colby Covington
BLUE: Joaquin Buckley
It appeared that Joaquin Buckley was coming into his own, with a doctor’s stoppage in the 3rd round due to a cut above Covington’s right eye. Covington definitely won the walkout, if that were a competition. He walked out to a “USA” themed song with pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, who proudly carried an American flag. Unfortunately, that’s where Covington’s hype ended…

Colby Covington makes way to ring with Hulk Hogan and Chael Sonnen

RD 1: Buckley definitely got the better of Covington often connecting on more shots. Buckley landed a solid right hand that could have ended the fight, but Covington was saved by the bell just seconds later. Buckley also opened up Covington’s face, with a cut above his right eye that would later end the fight.
RD 2: Covington appeared unfazed by the punches, though his face was dripping with blood.
RD 3: Covington came out for more, trying to walk down Buckley. But again, Buckley got the better of Covington in most exchanges. Buckley looked to be in great shape with more gas in the tank than Covington. His punches were sharp, landing combinations to the head and body. After one too many shots to the face, the cut over Covington’s right eye was pouring blood. The fight was stopped at 4:42 of Round 3, when the cage-side physician had seen enough. Covington claimed he could still continue.

Joaquin Buckley def. Colby Covington by TKO (doctor stoppage) in RD 3 at 4:42

After the fight concluded, Buckley was asked who he wants next. He responded, “I think it’s Kamaru Usman.” Only time will tell how this story ends.