Chael Sonnen says he almost threw in the towel before the fight was interrupted Colby covington. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Chael Sonnen literally almost threw in the towel in defeat Colby covington before Joaquin Buckley No. UFC Tampa, which happened last Saturday (14), in the USA. The cut suffered on the fighter's eyebrow It was so serious that your long-time friend, and now coach, revealed that he was ready to stop the fight if the doctor and referee did not do so first.
The open cut from the beginning of the fight only got worse with each passing minute. By the third round, blood was running straight into Covington's eye, at which point even Sonnen felt it was time to call it quits.
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“He’s so open that the doctor had to look at it three times. Twice he stopped the action to let him continue. The third time, he said, ‘We can’t continue anymore.’ I was going to stop the fight. I already got the towel. When the doctor came in the third time, and I was looking at that blood, it wouldn’t stop and it was going to the eye. That’s the only thing you’re really looking for. When we as fight fans, we as tough guys, think the doctor should have stopped it, we’re talking about it, it doesn’t matter how bad the cut is from our perspective, as long as it doesn’t go to the eye. If it’s blinding a guy, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little bit or a lot, if it’s in his eye, and he can’t see out of that eye anymore, it’s the same thing. It’s exactly the same thing,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.
After the fight ended, Covington barely stayed to hear the result before storming out of the Octagon while Buckley celebrated. At the post-fight press conference, Dana White said he believes the fight would have continued if the fight had taken place in Nevada. But Sonnen disagrees and supports the decision to stop the fight.
“That was bad. That was in the eye. I literally stood up so I could see what the doctor was doing. I said to Charlie, the No. 2 [trainer], I said ‘hand me that towel, I’m going to stop this’. I bring this up to you because the referee was getting some flak. Well, let me be fair here, I saw what they saw,” he explained.
Not everything was bad (according to Sonnen)
Colby covington suffered a deep cut against Joaquin buckley - UFC Tampa. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram/UFC
Although the fight ended due to the cut, Sonnen still praised Covington's resilience in facing a powerful fighter like Buckley, who was throwing hard and heavy punches throughout. The 'American Gangster' said he felt the tide was turning before the doctor's stoppage. A video released by Covington even shows a conversation with Sonnen, where he praises his friend's performance.
“I think we were down in both rounds going into the third. But then I was told one of the judges had it 1-1. I’m not here to relive that, I just felt the tide was turning. Buckley was very sporting about it. He said ‘hey, I was fading a bit’ and it’s important that Buckley understands that,” he added.
The post-fight scorecards actually showed Covington trailing 20-18 across the board, and the third round didn't start much differently than the previous two. Despite this, Sonnen praised Covington for the courage he displayed throughout the fight, not backing down.
“There was never a moment where Colby even flinched. There was never a moment where he backed down. There was never a moment where he took a step back. There was never a moment where he went down and I give you that because there was a moment where he went down, but it wasn’t from a punch. There was a punch when he slipped on the way down. When you look at the claw, you look at the hits he took, you look at the damage they did, he didn’t care,” Sonnen concluded.
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Read More about: Chael Sonnen, Colby covington, Dana White, Joaquin buckley
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