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Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley Preview & Picks – Buckley To Win Final UFC Main Event Of 2024
- Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley picks for Saturday, December 14
- UFC Fight Night is taking place at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida
- Preview, predictions, stats & form
Joaquin Buckley (Getty Images)
- Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley Preview & Picks
- Colby Covington Form
- Joaquin Buckley Form
Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley Preview & Picks
Colby Covington vs Joaquin Buckley Preview & Picks
Joaquin Buckley is tipped to take this main event fight on points.
Buckley has a sizeable reach advantage, boasts plenty of power and is a good grappler.
He has also been the much more active fighter in recent years, so we expect him to earn the nod from the judges.
- Joaquin Buckley is 5-0 since moving to welterweight
- Joaquin Buckley as a 4” reach advantage over Colby Covington
- Colby Covington has lost 3 of his previous 5 fights
- Colby Covington’s last 2 defeats came via decision
Colby Covington Form
Colby Covington is the #6 ranked welterweight contender with a record of 17-4 (4 KOs, 4 Subs).
Covington debuted in the UFC in August 2014, and after a 3-1 start he embarked on a seven-fight win streak that propelled him to the interim title.
He submitted Jonathan Meunier and knocked out Max Griffin in the third round, before earning three unanimous decision wins.
‘Chaos’ beat Bryan Barberena, Dong-Hyun Kim and Demian Maia on points to set up an interim title fight with Rafael dos Anjos.
Covington took that fight on points, but he was later stripped of the interim welterweight title due to injury.
The 36-year-old American made a winning return to action a year later, beating former champion Robbie Lawler via unanimous decision to earn himself a title fight.
He was knocked out by Kamaru Usman in the fifth round, and after rebounding with a TKO victory over Tyron Woodley, he lost another UFC title fight with Usman, this time on points.
Covington put that behind him with a decision win over Jorge Masvidal, but then saw another title fight end in failure as he lost on points to Leon Edwards in his only outing of 2023.
Joaquin Buckley Form
Joaquin Buckley is the #9 welterweight contender with a professional record of 20-6 (14 KOs).
Buckley made his UFC debut in the summer of 2020 and got off to a losing start as he was knocked out in the third round by Kevin Holland.
He rebounded to win five of his next six fights, before suffering back-to-back defeats in the final few months of 2022.
‘New Mansa’ dropped a unanimous decision to Nassourdine Imavov and then suffered a second-round knockout loss at the hands of Chris Curtis.
Following those defeats Buckley made the move from middleweight to welterweight, and he has not looked back, winning five-in-a-row to climb into the top 10.
The 30-year-old American marked his welterweight debut with a second-round knockout of Andre Fialho in May of last year.
He backed that up in October 2023 as he beat Alex Morono on points, before making a winning start to 2024 with a second-round knockout of Vicente Luque.
Buckley then beat Nursulton Ruziboev on points in May, before knocking out former title contender Stephen Thompson in the third round in October.
Verdict
Colby Covington appears to be on the downturn in his career and has barely been active in recent years.
Joaquin Buckley has been racking up Octagon time and wins, and as the younger and bigger man we expect him to outpoint Covington over five rounds.
Joaquin Buckley has been racking up Octagon time and wins, and as the younger and bigger man we expect him to outpoint Covington over five rounds.
Buckley by Decision
Method Of Victory
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