Joaquin Buckley could only laugh when he heard that Colby Covington dismissed him as if he was a nobody that never crossed paths with him before.
It turns out, Buckley says he actually put in some time training at the same gym as Covington in Florida and even offered to help him get ready for a title fight in the UFC. Unfortunately, they never got a chance to get in any work together, which is what told Buckley everything he needed to know about Covington.
“Why you lying, Colby? Why you lying?” Buckley said during UFC Tampa media day. “That’s the funniest thing. We’ve done already met each other before. This will be our third time meeting each other if we get to face off.
“When I trained out in Miami with MMA Masters, this was right before he had the fight with Kamaru Usman. Before I met him, I knew that he trained down there, I didn’t know what to expect. I had only known him from all the stuff that he does on camera. But when I saw him, just a chill dude. He was like ‘what’s up man’ [and] I’m like ‘how you doing, bro?’ Just a basic guy. Eventually, I was like I can help you out with this Kamaru Usman fight, I think we should get some rounds in, get some training in. [He said] ‘oh man I would love that, that would be cool.’ Funny thing about it, it just never happened. Because he just didn’t want to work.”
Buckley believes that Covington didn’t want to train with him because he saw the future welterweight contender as a threat who could potentially best him just weeks away from the biggest fight of his career.
For his part, Buckley prefers working with training partners who constantly force him to get better, which might require him to lose some rounds, but he doesn’t see that same mentality in somebody like Covington.
“The thing about Colby Covington, he kind of runs his own career, and he likes to work comfortable,” Buckley explained. “The thing about me is even though I kind of do the same thing, I don’t like working comfortable. I like working with new guys. I like working with guys that are hungry, and I like putting myself in position where it’s going to make me better.
“That’s where I feel like he lost those big fights because he was always training comfortable and he didn’t want to train with guys that are going to push him.”
As far as this fight coming together on shorter notice with Covington replacing Ian Machado Garry, who got pulled to compete at UFC 310, Buckley was somewhat surprised but he also feels like he knows why this matchup is happening.
“It’s funny how he was scared to just train with me and now he’s stepping in the cage with me,” Buckley said. “For real, Colby’s been quiet and he hasn’t been saying anything because he knows the truth. I think he’s really nervous to step in that cage with me.
“He wants to fight 145 [pound fighters], he wants to fight Paddy Pimblett, Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira, guys that’s not welterweight fighters. I feel like, in my opinion, this might be his last fight on his contract. I’m just assuming that. If you want to fight and it’s going to be your last one, you want to go off on top. I really feel like with that being said, he had no choice but to take this fight because it’s his last one.”
Covington later revealed that he actually signed a new multi-fight deal with the UFC prior to his title bout against Leon Edwards last December.
Regardless, Covington enters the UFC Tampa main event with a 3-3 record over his past six fights with a win over Rafael dos Anjos from 2018 serving as his most recent victory over a fighter on the current, active UFC roster.
For Buckley, that all just adds up to Covington didn’t step into save the main event as much as the UFC really didn’t give him any other option but to accept this fight.
“I really feel like he had no choice,” Buckley said. “It’s either fight or leave, retire.”
