Joaquin Buckley has no intention of taking Colby Covington to the scorecards.
Two months removed from his highlight-reel knockout of Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at UFC 307, ‘New Mansa’ will return to the Octagon for the UFC’s final event of 2024. Emanating from Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, Buckley will square off with three-time welterweight title challenger Colby Covington a Fight Night headliner that could have major title implications come the new year.
Buckley rides into The Sunshine State having won five straight — three of those victories by KO/TKO. However, the St. Louis native will be facing his toughest test yet when he meets Covington, a fighter with a seemingly endless gas tank and a world-class ground game.
Speaking with James Lynch in a MiddleEasy exclusive interview, Buckley stopped short of making an outright prediction but made it clear that he has no intention of leaving their fight in the hands of the judges.
“He will argue that he wasn’t knocked out — that he wasn’t finished, and he’s right,” Buckley said. “He wasn’t knocked out unconscious, but I really feel like for me and the style that I bring, we’re two types of fighters who want to take the middle of the cage and impose our will so we’re gonna figure out who does the better job at that and who makes it to the judges’ cards or who doesn’t.
“I hate going to the judges. I always want to get the finish — always fighting hard to get the finish so we’ll see.”
Joaquin Buckley Sees Jon Jones Getting the Job Done Against Tom Aspinall
During their conversation, Buckley also offered his assessment of Jon Jones’ successful undisputed heavyweight title defense against two-time champion Stipe Miocic.
THE MOMENT JON JONES KO’ED STIPE MIOCIC 😳 #UFC309 pic.twitter.com/R0IC0lZVq7
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 17, 2024
More importantly, ‘New Mansa’ looked ahead to what may very well be next for ‘Bones’ following his triumphant return to the Octagon at Madison Square Garden.
“We knew that was going to be easy work for Jon Jones, but now we really want to see the fight that the whole world wants to see and that’s him and Tom Aspinall, but Jon wants some big dollars for that and I can’t be mad at him for it, but we definitely have to see that fight happen,” Buckley said.
Interestingly, Aspinall opened as a favorite to come out on top against Jones, sitting at -135 odds while ‘Bones’ was listed as a +115 underdog.
Though he was more than willing to give Aspinall his props, Buckley simply can’t see the Brit coming out on top against the consensus GOAT.
“He’s definitely well-rounded and a gifted heavyweight,” Buckley said of Aspinall. “I feel like he holds the most challenges for Jon Jones at this time, but I’m still gonna go with Jones for the win. The energy that Jones is giving seems scary, but I know at the end of the day Jones is a competitor and I believe that if they step into that cage, Jones is stepping out victorious.”
Watch the full exclusive interview below:
