The lower over Colby Covington’s eye at UFC Tampa was so dangerous that his longtime pal and cornerman Chael Sonnen was able to cease his combat in opposition to Joaquin Buckley if the physician and the referee didn’t do it first.
It was a tough night time on the workplace for Covington after he bought battered across the octagon for two-plus rounds with Buckley in management all through, however a gash opened early within the combat solely continued to worsen with every passing minute. By the point the combat was deep into the third spherical, Covington was carrying a crimson masks however even worse, the blood from the lower was pouring proper into his eye and even Sonnen felt like sufficient was sufficient.
“He’s busted open so dangerous the physician has to take a look at it 3 times,” Sonnen stated concerning the combat on his YouTube channel. “Twice he stops the motion to let it preserve going. The third time he stated ‘we will’t go anymore.’ I used to be going to cease that combat. I already grabbed the towel. When the physician got here in for the third time, and I’m watching that blood, it’s not stopping and it’s going into the attention. That’s the one factor you’re actually on the lookout for.
“Once we as combat followers, we as powerful guys, suppose the physician ought to have stopped it, we’re speaking about it doesn’t actually matter how dangerous the lower is from our perspective so long as it’s not going within the eye. If it’s blinding a man, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit of or so much, if it’s in his eye, and he can now not see out of that eye, it’s the identical factor. It’s the very same factor.”
Following the top of the combat, Covington barely caught round to listen to the end result earlier than he stormed out of the octagon whereas Buckley began his celebration.
On the post-fight press convention, UFC CEO Dana White stated that he believes the combat would have been allowed to proceed if the bout was taking place in Nevada versus Florida.
That could be White’s opinion however Sonnen truly disagrees and he backs the choice to cease the combat.
“This was dangerous,” Sonnen stated concerning the lower. “This was within the eye. I actually stood up so I may see what the physician was doing. I instructed Charlie, the No. 2 [coach], I stated ‘hand me that towel, I’m stopping this.’ I deliver that to you as a result of the referee was taking some criticism. Nicely, let me be truthful right here, I noticed what they noticed.”
Whereas the combat ended as a result of lower, Sonnen nonetheless praised Covington’s toughness whereas going up in opposition to an actual powerhouse in Buckley, who was unloading enormous, heavy pictures all through.
Covington struggled to get a lot offense going outdoors of a takedown within the second spherical however even that didn’t give him a lot of a bonus as Buckley stayed affected person till he was in a position to work his means again to the ft.
Nonetheless, Sonnen needs issues performed out a bit of in a different way given Covington’s conditioning and skill to push a tempo that almost all opponents can’t sustain with.
“I believe we have been down each rounds going into the third,” Sonnen stated. “However then I used to be instructed that one of many judges had it 1-1. I’m not right here to relive that, I simply felt that the tide was turning. Buckley was an actual sport about that. He stated ‘hey, I used to be fading a bit of bit’ and it’s necessary that Buckley understands that.
“As a result of Buckley did nothing improper. He simply has to learn to prolong. In the event you’re going to be preventing like this, you do such an excellent job with the media, he’s going to be headlining occasions. So which means he’s going to be within the 5 spherical membership and it’s good for Buckley to know the place that vitality goes.”
The scorecards launched after the combat truly had Covington down 20-18 throughout the board and the third spherical didn’t begin a lot totally different than the earlier two.
Regardless, Sonnen praised Covington for the guts he confirmed all through the combat, particularly his capacity to take Buckley’s finest punches with out backing down in any way.
“There was nowhere Colby even winced,” Sonnen stated. “There was nowhere that he flinched. There was by no means a time he stepped backwards. There was not a time he went down and I give you that as a result of there was a time that he went down but it surely wasn’t from a punch. There was a punch as he slipped as he went down.
“If you take a look at the grit-meter, this was one among Colby’s finest fights. If you take a look at the digging deep, this doesn’t exchange the combat with Kamaru Usman however godd*mn, it’s proper there. If you take a look at grit, you take a look at the pictures that he took, you take a look at the harm that they did, he didn’t care.”
