Joaquin ‘New Mansa’ Buckley put on a career-best performance last night, with his main event showdown against Colby Covington ending in a bloody doctor’s stoppage late into the third.
The St. Louis standout must have been running late for some exciting post-fight plans; dipping from the UFC Tampa press conference after just 60 seconds – all the time he needed to get his points across.
Joaquin Buckley speedruns UFC Tampa post-fight press conference
2024 has concluded with one of the best main event performances of the year; with Joaquin Buckley earning the TKO win over Colby Covington after ‘Chaos’ suffered a nasty cut on his eyelid.
“My first main event was a big success, I feel like the whole card was very successful,” stated Buckley at the UFC Tampa post-fight press conference, with seven of the 13 bouts 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’ve got to protect the fighters.”
Joaquin Buckley entered UFC Tampa as the #9 ranked welterweight in the world and is undoubtedly now in the title conversation after a brutal victory over the #6 former interim champion.
“I feel like 2025 is definitely [going to be] my year, and we’re definitely taking over… With this being said, [I’m on] a six-fight winning streak, I’ve got eight knockouts in the UFC, and I feel like I’ve done enough to put myself in the position to yet again, fight for that title.
“Even though I know that Shavkat is next, blessed to that fight but if anything happens where either Shavkat or Belal doesn’t step up into the octagon; I’m willing to face them.”
Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov are expected to throwdown in early 2025, following the undefeated Kazakh’s decision win over Ian Machado Garry at UFC 310.
Buckley can’t wait for the title shot to come his way, and he seemingly couldn’t wait any longer to exit the arena – signing off after just 60 seconds: “At the end of the day, we’re going to keep this nice and short bro, I’m definitely looking to take that throne man, 2025 bro – we out, thank you.”
Dana White reacts to Joaquin Buckley’s KO win over Colby Covington
Thankfully, the UFC CEO was able to stick around for a little longer than ‘New Mansa’, although Dana White did suggest that whilst Covington’s cut was bad, it might not have been bad enough to stop the fight in other more-lenient venues.
“I was curious to see how it would go if it had gone five rounds, there’s no doubt that it was a bad cut, but that fight doesn’t get stopped in Vegas – that fight keeps going in Vegas, 100%.”
Whilst it sounded like White personally disagreed with calling a halt to the action, he did admit that the victory remains enormously impressive from Buckley’s perspective.
“Yeah listen, you go in there and beat Colby Covington, it’s a big deal. Love him or hate him, the guy’s a dog, f**** tough as nails, took big shots to the body, big shots to the head that would have knocked a lot of people out.
“Colby’s durable and tough, but when you get cut, anything can happen.”