UFC FightNight Covington vs. Buckley 12/14/24

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will tie a ribbon around 2024 with its final event of the year, as UFC Tampa goes down later TONIGHT (Sat., Dec. 14, 2024) inside Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Headlining the ESPN+-streamed event is Welterweight showdown between former interim champion, Colby Covington, and knockout artist, Joaquin Buckley.

Buckley, meanwhile, has really come into his own over the last few years, racking up five straight wins in the last 18 months after suffering back-to-back losses to Chris Curtis and Nassourdine Imavov. During his recent winning run, he knocked out Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque and Andre Fialho. Currently holding down the No. 9 spot, he, too, is looking to crash the Top 5. And a win over a former champion could be the ticket to get him there. Covington obviously has the wrestling advantage, and he isn’t a spring chicken when it comes to the striking department. That said, Buckley has major power in both of his hands — and feet — and he can turn anyone’s light’s out if they choose to go toe-to-toe with him. A weapon Covington has to his advantage, however, is his pace and cardio, which is infamous for tiring out his opponents. That means Buckley will have to get to work early and often because once it goes to the championship rounds, Covington has the advantage. This should be a great stylistic matchup.

Again, placement on fight cards seems to be a thing of the past — for the most part — but I have an issue with a Lightweight bout between Drakkar Klose and Joel Alvarez not getting a spot on the main card over newcomer Navajo Stirling and Tuco Tokkos. Alvarez is 6-1 in his last seven fights, while Klose is on a four-fight win streak and is 7-1 in his last eight. This fight belongs on the main card over a newbie and a man coming of a loss in his UFC debut, plain and simple.

Davey Grant had his two-fight win streak snapped in his previous fight at the hands of Daniel Marcos earlier this year, losing a razor-thin split decision. Ramon Taveras, meanwhile, is off to fine start in his UFC journey, winning his debut fight against Serhiy Sidey via split-decision. The Contender Series product has now won six of his last seven fights. Dustin Jacoby is currently riding a two-fight losing streak coming into his 205-pound matchup against Vitor Petrino. Going back a bit further, Jacoby has lost four of his last five fights inside the Octagon, putting him in a must-win situation in Tampa. As for Petrino, despite the fact that he is coming off a loss to Anthony Smith, he has more breathing room because that was the first defeat of his career.