Henry Cejudo doesn’t see Colby Covington getting again on the profitable monitor anytime quickly.
“Chaos” returns to the octagon for the primary time in a yr when he fights Joaquin Buckley in the principle occasion of UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. The previous interim champion and three-time undisputed title challenger steps in on short-notice as a alternative for Ian Machado Garry, who was rescheduled to combat Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310.
The previous few matchups have been a roller-coaster for Covington, who has solely misplaced to elite competitors in his previous 5 fights, but additionally solely crushed Jorge Masvidal and Tyron Woodley, two fighters who’re not on the energetic roster.
On Cejudo and Kamaru Usman’s Pound 4 Pound podcast, Usman broke down his ideas on the matchup between Buckley and his longtime rival Covington.
“I feel it’s an excellent stylistic matchup as a result of proper now you’ve received Joaquin Buckley, he’s going to run off combos, attempting to land these huge photographs to probably get you out of there,” Usman mentioned. “Colby Covington is a man that you can probably get with the large shot.
“However Colby is also the opposite facet of that coin. He can get ahold of you, drag you down if he makes use of his wrestling. As a result of we noticed his final combat, he didn’t precisely make the most of that wrestling till the later rounds when he received somewhat bit extra snug, and now he’s been out for fairly a while, once more, so who is aware of?”
Buckley is at present on a five-fight win streak that coincided with a transfer right down to the welterweight division in 2023. In his most up-to-date outing, Buckley scored a third-round knockout of longtime contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson to leap to No. 10 within the MMA Preventing World Rankings.
Given Buckley’s rise and Covington’s seeming decline, Cejudo favors Buckley to complete Covington in Tampa.
“The fashion of Colby Covington is so predictable now and the truth that they’ve seen him lose time and time once more, whether or not it’s with Leon Edwards or your self, it’s there,” Cejudo mentioned. “When you cease Colby’s takedowns, issues will fall into place.
“Have a look at how Joaquin covers distance. Double fakes, dipping in to finally cease a dude like Wonderboy, so I’m excessive on this child. This child is harmful. I can see Colby Covington dropping by way of stoppage to a man like Joaquin Buckley, and I really do consider that.”
Usman agreed with Cejudo’s evaluation, however steered that Buckley may have a tougher time of it than Cejudo expects.
“All of these issues work nice whenever you’re preventing a man that’s not a wrestler, that may’t change ranges,” Usman mentioned. “Colby will—As an alternative of evading the way in which Wonderboy was, what will we do as wrestlers? We modify ranges, reduce you down, and so we’ll see.
“Solely time will inform as a result of Colby’s been out for some time and historically-speaking time hasn’t actually been the nice issue for Colby Covington in between these fights. So I don’t know. I just like the combat, although, I like that combat. I’m really excited to see that combat.”
P4P. Is Jon Jones again at No. 1 on the pound-for-pound listing?
Eyeballs. Netflix touts a nine-figure viewership for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson combat.
Meh. Matt Brown wasn’t thrilled with both half of the UFC 309 predominant occasion.
Splash. You do NOT throw water at Darren Until!
Don’t. Man is joyful to let ALEX PEREIRA take a number of free photographs at him.
The Korean Zombie meets Poatan
Teddy Atlas on Paul vs. Tyson
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Johnny Walker free combat
Fighter vs. Author.
The Co-Major Occasion. Ben Fowlkes and Chad Dundas wax poetic on Paul vs. Tyson and UFC 309.
Good for you.
Being ranked quantity 2 pound per pound at 37 years previous, I’m pleased with that. ☀️
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 19, 2024
Be careful for Gaziev, although.
Who, although?
Struggle information video dropping this week
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) November 19, 2024
Solution to punch, no-punch.
Get nicely quickly.
Kai is coming.
Ricky Turcios (12-4) vs. Bernardo Sopai (11-3); UFC 311, Jan. 18
Anthony Hernandez (13-2, 1 NC) vs. Brendan Allen; UFC Struggle Night time, Feb. 22
Have all of us recovered from the weekend?
Even within the fast-moving world of MMA, the stench of Paul vs. Tyson and the discourse surrounding the return of Jon Jones nonetheless really feel fairly contemporary. You get the sense that at the same time as we march in the direction of the brand new yr, Paul and Jones are going to discover a strategy to dominate the headlines in 2025.
So sit up for all of that!
Ballot
Do you know there’s a UFC card this Saturday?
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