Joaquin “New Mansa” Buckley put in a career-best performance last night, with his main event showdown against Colby Covington ending in a bloody doctor stoppage late in the third.
The St. Louis standout must have been overdue for some exciting post-fight plans; he ducked out of the UFC Tampa press conference after just 60 seconds — all the time he needed to get his points across.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Joaquin Buckley speedruns UFC Tampa after the press conference
2024 ended with one of the best main event performances of the year; with Joaquin Buckley scoring the TKO victory over Colby Covington after 'Chaos' suffered a nasty cut on his eyelid.
“My first main event was a huge success, I feel like the whole card was very successful,” Buckley said at UFC Tampa's post-fight press conference, with seven of the 13 fights ending in KO/TKO.
“I feel like my fight, you know, shouldn't have been stopped, but you know, it is what it is… You have to protect the fighters.”
Joaquin Buckley entered UFC Tampa as the #9 ranked welterweight in the world and is now undoubtedly in the title conversation after a brutal victory over the #6 former interim champion.
“I feel like 2025 will definitely be that [going to be] my year, and we'll definitely take it over… That being said, [I’m on] a six-fight winning streak, I have eight knockouts in the UFC and I feel like I've done enough to put myself in a position to fight for that title again.
“Even though I know Shavkat is next, blessed to have that fight, but if something happens where Shavkat or Belal don't step in the octagon; I am ready to face them.”
Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov are expected to go down in early 2025 following Kazakh's undefeated victory over Ian Machado Garry at UFC 310.
Buckley can't wait for the title shot to come his way, and he apparently couldn't wait any longer to leave the arena – signing off after just 60 seconds: “In the end we're going to keep this Nice little brother, I definitely plan to take over that throne man, 2025 bro – we're leaving, thank you.”
Dana White reacts to Joaquin Buckley's KO win over Colby Covington
Fortunately, the UFC CEO was able to stay a little longer than “New Mansa,” although Dana White did suggest that while Covington's cut was bad, it might not have been bad enough to stop the fight in other milder venues.
“I was curious to see how it would have gone if it had gone five rounds. There's no doubt it was a bad cut, but that fight isn't being stopped in Vegas – that fight is 100% happening in Vegas.”
While it sounded like White personally disagreed with the promotion's halt, he did admit that the victory remains extremely impressive from Buckley's perspective.
“Yeah, listen, if you go in there and beat Colby Covington, it's a big deal. Love him or hate him, the man is a dog, tough as nails, has taken big shots to the body, big shots to the head that would have knocked a lot of people out.
“Colby is durable and strong, but if you get cut, anything can happen.”
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