It is hard to take anything Colby Covington says seriously. The actually soft-spoken and incredibly polite welterweight, of course, plays a brash, rude, and abrasive character known to fight fans as ‘Chaos’ for marketing purposes. To the point that Colby and ‘Chaos’ are used interchangeably in the way that The Undertaker and Mark Calaway were in the world of pro-wrestling. And so the former welterweight title challenger talks a lot of trash and says things he knows fans will hate.

But that doesn’t mean anything he says should be taken seriously. And one of the things he does seem serious about is the loss he took in his last fight in December 2024. The Clovis native is pretty salty about his UFC Tampa clash after losing to Joaquin Buckley via doctor’s stoppage, and feels he was ‘robbed’ of a victory.

“It’s the first time it’s [an early stoppage] ever happened to me. Literally, when I was in Brazil, I had that same exact cut. The scar tissue was in the same exact place, and my face was bleeding. Like it was so bad, blood dripping down my face, like through my eyes, couldn’t even see. But I kept fighting ‘cuz I’m a warrior. This is what I want. I signed up to go out on my shield, let me go out on my shield like a warrior. So, you know, in that fight I came back and I won with the cut. And this fight, you know, he was still draining over my face but I was coming back. The momentum was changing,” Covington said on the ‘Digital Social Hour Podcast by Sean Kelly’ in a recent interview.

Covington seems to be misremembering things a bit. Buckley was piecing up ‘Chaos’ on the feet from the first bell. ‘New Mansa’ outstruck Covington 23-10, 28-19, and 24-8 for the three rounds before the fight stopped because of a serious cut Buckley opened over his right eye. But then again, ‘Chaos’ is a grappler and wouldn’t be expected to get the better of Buckley in stand-up.

But the former D1 wrestler managed only one successful takedown out of the eight he attempted throughout the fight. Not to mention Covington looked remarkably slow and his vaunted cardio was nowhere on display. ‘Chaos’ was not winning the fight, and the doctor’s stoppage probably prevented him from being humiliated further. However, Covington disagrees and has a perfect scapegoat to explain away his loss.

Colby Covington reveals ‘real’ reason he lost at UFC Tampa

“The girl doctor comes in ‘Oh my god, I’ve never seen it,’ like, ‘Oh my god, you’re gonna lose your eyelid, Colby. Stop, no, it has to stop.’ I’m like, what are you sh—ing me? Like you’re a woman, you’re not a man, you don’t understand what it takes to fight inside the Octagon. You, obviously, you’ve never seen fights before. So you don’t understand, like, what you’re looking at. It sucks ‘cuz I feel like I got robbed, you know,” Covington added.

Ah, the old ‘it was the doctor’s fault because she is a girl’ excuse. But then again, it is perfectly understandable why ‘Chaos’ is so insistent he would have won the fight. After his loss, the vociferous Trump supporter has slid down to #8 in the welterweight rankings. And since the American is already 37 years old, and seemingly on a decline, the clock on his career is ticking.

This, unfortunately, means that ‘Chaos’ may never get to fight for a UFC title and be remembered as the loud-mouthed guy who wasn’t good enough to become an undisputed champion. But Covington is undeterred.

“I’m not going to cry and I’m not going to play victim,” Covington said, seconds after having played the victim. “I’m just going to work harder and I’m going to come back stronger,” he promised. Whether he can actually come through on his promise of coming back stronger and possibly fighting for a title, or just fizzles out because of Father Time remains to be seen.

But if he can, it would be one of the best comeback stories in the history of the sport. What do you think about Colby Covinton’s take on his UFC Iowa loss?