With UFC Tampa coming to an end, the UFC finally draws the curtain on 2024 and will now be looking forward to the coming year. Well, it won’t be just the UFC who would be looking forward to 2025, as even Colby Covington would like to forget the night he has had today and try to grab a win next year. After all, he wanted to put on a show against Joaquin Buckley at UFC Tampa; however, his plans were foiled when he suffered a TKO (doctor’s stoppage) against Joaquin Buckley in the third round of the main event fight.

Covington had been out of action for over a year, and it definitely showed as he struggled inside the Octagon against his fellow welterweight. However, it was a solid right hand that started the wrap-up for ‘Chaos’ as blood flowed down from his eye in the second round. As the fight continued and went to the third, a bloody Covington was checked by the doctor.

To no one’s surprise at that point, the medic announced that the fight should no longer happen since Covington could even lose his eyelid if he continued. A situation that was explained by MMA pundit and journalist Aaron Bronsteter on his X. He wrote, “The placement of the cut is why the doctor stopped the fight. Cuts below the eyebrow/on the eyelid are particularly dangerous and can have long-term implications.”

Well, this definitely wasn’t how Covington imagined things would go. After all, he even kissed his lucky Donald Trump necklace to get some good luck against Buckley and get back to his winning ways. However, fate had something else in the plan. Whatever the plan may be, fans were really disappointed by the outcome, and they let it be known.

Was UFC Tampa’s main event stoppage premature?

As fans witnessed the stoppage, they were quick to express their disappointment. After all, the UFC has seen worse injuries in the past. So, seeing a fight get canceled due to a cut on the eyelid seemed odd. Even though with this win Buckley will likely steal Covington’s #6 spot in the welterweight rankings, he wouldn’t be too happy with the way he earned his 21st pro MMA win. Especially when he will be joining other fighters such as Kamaru Usman, Jack Della Maddalena, and Shavkat Rakhmonov at the top now.

But more than him, it was the fans who were devastated to see such a finish to a highly anticipated bout. Letting their disappointment be known, they wrote comments such as “he’s gonna lose his eye lid” says the Dr. I’ve seen so much worse than that wtf lol , “Stopping the fight for this is so wack. These guys are all willing to die in there,” and “fights don’t need to be stopped for something as little as this.” Many others joined in, claiming that the injury did not appear to be that grave. “A light lil cut tbh,” “Its not even that bad why they stopped.”

However, some fans believed that even if the fight continued, there was no way that Covington could win it. From the get-go, it was Buckley who was going out strong. Off all the rounds, Buckley had more strikes than ‘Chaos’, defended more takedown attempts, and always found a way to get back on his feet. According to fans, Covington had already lost the earlier two rounds, and even if the UFC let him continue, all he would’ve got was a knockout loss.

Giving a reality check to the fans of Colby Covington, they wrote in the comments, “Colby was getting pieced. He had no shot anyway”, “Should’ve let him keep going so we could see his a** get whooped for two more rounds, 😂😂” and “He not gonna like it but the doctor saved him from possibly getting knocked out 😂” Well, it surely looks like Covington might have been saved by the bell from getting knocked out. But what do you think? Could have Covington turned things around in the final rounds? Let us know in the comments.