Colby Covington disputes UFC Tampa loss to Joaquin Buckley: ‘I was just warming up’

Faced with a two-fight losing skid following his return over the weekend, Colby Covington seems to dispute his stoppage loss to Joaquin Buckley in their UFC Tampa headliner, claimined he was just “warming up” ahead of the fourth round.

Covington, who returned to action following a year-long hiatus over the weekend at UFC Tampa, took on the streaking, Buckley having most recently headlined UFC 296 in an undisputed welterweight title fight with former gold holder, Leon Edwards.

And suffering a second consecutive loss in his comeback fight against Buckley, Clovis native Covington was forced out of the headliner in the third round — with a sizeable laceration on his right eyelid resulting in a doctor’s stoppage TKO defeat.

Colby Covington disputes UFC Tampa finish against Joaquin Buckley

Remaining optimistic following the loss, Colby Covington disputed the finish to the bout, after further claiming he was working his way into changing the tide of the pairing ahead of the fourth round.

“We’re going to be back stronger than ever,” Colby Covington said on his YouTube channel. “This is just the beginning for me. I wasn’t at my best tonight. I came off the couch, but it was for the company. I did this for the company that I love so much, that changed my life. I know that there’s still a lot of fight in me, and the best is yet to come. I was just getting warmed up in that fight.”

“I think it was tied up 1-1, and I was starting to wear on him. I could see him breathing out of his mouth. I was starting to catch him with more shots, so it’s unfortunate that they stopped it. Even Dana came out and said, ‘If that was in Vegas, that would have never been stopped.’ I took his hardest shots, and they were nothing. They didn’t faze me at all. I was walking right down, so we’ll come back stronger.”