Colby Covington Looks to Beat Old and Slow Accusation During UFC Return in December

Colby Covington has had one of the strangest careers of any fighter in the championship picture for over five years. Covington hasn’t fought more than once in a year since 2019. While MMAfighting latest news shows the UFC typically pushes fighters willing to be active, that hasn’t been the case with Covington.

Since winning the interim welterweight championship in 2018, Covington has a 4-3 record, and all three of his losses came in title fights. But in his most recent loss to Leon Edwards last December, UFC CEO Dana White criticized his performance, saying Covington looked old and slow. While Ian Machado Garry attempted to get Covington to fight him, it appeared Covington would wait until 2025 to fight.

But Machado Garry instead accepted to fight Buckley on Dec. 14 in Tampa. When Machado Garry was switched to fight at UFC 310 against Shavkat Rakhmonov instead, Covington was called upon to fight instead.

What Has Covington Been Up to?

Covington has spent most of the year taking shots at other fighters on social media. Covington had been all over the best MMA news sites for criticizing Machado Garry for not being manly enough because of what he thinks about Machado Garry’s relationship with his wife. That’s nothing new for Covington, 36, who gained popularity for his willingness to play the bad guy to sell fights.

But the villain role has leaked into his life outside of fighting. Covington agreed to spar with Lil Pump during a livestream. During the exchange, Covington choked Lil Pump out with a rear-naked choke.

This wasn’t something they had agreed to ahead of time. Covington, as a character, can be hard to listen to at times. He is willing to say a lot of different things, but his sense of humor isn’t particularly clever. It is mean-spirited and riles opponents up, but he doesn’t stack up to the best MMA smack talk artists like Chael Sonnen or Conor McGregor.

Covington’s insults can sound, at times, like someone trying a little too hard to be edgy.

Why Did Machado Garry Pull Out of Fight With Buckley?

Belal Muhammad’s toe injury caused a rapid chain of events. The newly crowned UFC welterweight champion was initially scheduled to fight Rakhmonov for the belt. However, Muhammad was injured and had to pull out of UFC 310.

UFC 310 is the promotion’s final pay-per-view card of the year and will be held Dec. 7 in Las Vegas. The flyweight championship fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura will headline the event. Rakhmonov and Garry, who are both undefeated, will be the co-main event fight and have the potential to steal the show.

The fight between Garry and Rakhmonov meant that the UFC needed to find a dance partner for Buckley.

Buckley Deserves a Top-Flight Opponent

Buckley had to feel a certain way when he saw Impa Kasanganay win the 2023 PFL light heavyweight tournament and the $1 million prize. The two men will forever be tied together because Buckley knocked Kasanganay out in spectacular fashion in 2020.

For a time, MMA breaking news seemed to point to that knockout possibly being all Buckley would be remembered for. Buckley’s career seemed stuck after Chris Curtis knocked him out in 2022, his second straight defeat.

However, Buckley chose to return in May 2023 and chose to fight at welterweight. It has been a perfect marriage for Buckley. He has won five straight fights, including an impressive knockout of former title challenger Stephen Thompson in October. Buckley is now No. 9 in the rankings and would be happy to trade places with Covington at No. 6.

Dana White Privilege

Many fighters have complained that Covington has “Dana White privilege.” That term fans, media, and fighters use for people who get opportunities they don’t feel they earned. The calls were never louder about that particular topic than when Covington was given an opportunity to fight Edwards for the title last December.

Before Covington fought Edwards, he was coming off a win over Jorge Masvidal. However, Masvidal was at the end of his career, and the bout wasn’t really respected. Plenty of other ranked contenders wanted a chance to fight Covington, but he claimed he was only interested in fighting for a title.

Another problem was that Covington was assaulted by Masvidal at a steakhouse in Miami following the fight. Covington was sucker punched by Masvidal and claimed he needed time to recover before he fought again.

Buckley and Covington Apart of a Solid Fight Card

The UFC will want its final fight card of 2024 to produce some memorable moments. Throughout the year, the UFC had its share of ups and downs. Switching to new gloves saw a dip in fights being finished, causing the UFC to scrap the new design by the end of the year.

When it comes to fight cards, the highlight of the year may have been UFC 300, which saw a stunning knockout of Justin Gaethje by Max Holloway. For this final fight card, the co-main event will feature an interesting women’s fight.

Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern will have a rematch of their 2019 fight. The first bout came as Dern was returning after having a baby, and Ribas eked out a decision.

Here’s a list of the other fights planned for the card:

Featherweight, Cub Swanson vs. Billy Quarantillo

Lightweight, Michael Johnson vs. Ottman Azaitar

Light heavyweight, Vitor Petrino vs. Dustin Jacoby

Bantamweight, Adrian Yanez vs. Daniel Marcos

Women’s flyweight, Miranda Maverick vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth

Lightweight, Joel Álvarez vs. Drakkar Klose

Flyweight, Manel Kape vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva

Bantamweight, Davey Grant vs. Ramon Taveras

Women’s Strawweight, Josefine Lindgren Knutsson vs. Piera Rodriguez

Light heavyweight, Navajo Stirling vs. Tuco Tokkos

Featherweight, Sean Woodson vs. Fernando Padilla

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By Dean McHugh.