Tampa – UFC welterweight Joaquin Buckley really wanted to face Ian Machado Garry at UFC Tampa on Saturday night, but his consolation prize once Garry was rebooked was former title challenger Colby Covington.
“I ain’t going to lie to you. I wanted that fight. We was promoting Buck vs. Cuck and that was going to be one the biggest things around,” Buckley told reporters on Wednesday.
“At the end of the day I feel like me and Colby I think that’s a big fight too.”
Buckley (20-6) was originally set to face Garry in the main event at UFC Tampa. Welterweight champ Belal Muhammad suffered a bone infection that took him out of the fight, and in stepped Garry to face Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310.
Instead of facing Garry in Florida Buckley gets one of the more polarizing fighters in the promotion in Covington.
“(Covington) has won the interim title. A person that’s fought for the title three times even though he lost. He got a big name. He has a big persona, he got big connections, like with the president. I don’t even know if the president’s going to be there, but if somebody like that is watching my fight that’s going to be a big deal. It’s historic,” he said.
“The Colby fight is way bigger than the Ian Garry fight.”
Covington brings his own brand of promoting with a brash attitude, and inflammatory statements, but Buckley says he sees through all that.
“I feel like the dude that he portrays is obviously a character, and everybody knows it. It’s not a secret. Everybody knows he’s trying to do like the WWE persona. I feel like it got him very far and got him exactly where he needs to be,” Buckley said.
“Now it’s getting old. It has no value anymore. I feel like right now it’s a great opportunity to use this fight to kind of push my name and push my brand.”
Watch the entire media day scrum Joaquin Buckley above. He headlines UFC Tampa against Colby Covington on Saturday.
