The UFC wraps up its 2024 calendar year on Saturday with UFC Tampa: Covington vs. Buckley, with the card’s official (and ceremonial) weigh-ins taking place as always a day prior.
The card’s main event underwent a shift when Ian Machado Garry opted to drop out of his fight with Joaquin Buckley to face Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 in a welterweight title eliminator. That opened the door for the return of Colby “Chaos” Covington, competing for the first time in a year, and since a loss to Leon Edwards for the promotion’s welterweight title.
Despite achieving a considerable amount of notoriety thanks to his adoption of a pro-wrestling style heel persona dripping with MAGA-style talking points, Covington’s absence hasn’t really been felt at a time when the welterweight division’s new breed has been on fire. Rakhmonov, Garry, and Jack Della Maddalena are the future of the division, and all three have been looked at as future champions. Covington, whose consistency has been lacking (Saturday will mark just five fights in the past five calendar years) was at risk of losing what little relevance he still had, were he not to return now. And a win is equally important for the 36-year old.
Joaquin Buckley, at 30, might be a name that joins those aforementioned new stars shortly. While his star hit the highest heights in 2020 with a Knockout of the Year finish of Impa Kasanganay, he struggled with top competition at middleweight, falling to Nassourdine Imavov and Chris Curtis. A move down to welterweight in 2023, however, has resulted in five straight wins, including the likes of Vicente Luque and ex-title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. A victory against Covington, a former interim champ, would land Buckley, ranked #9 to Covington’s #6, at least on the outskirts of the title picture.
Weigh-ins for UFC Tampa get underway at 9PM ET, 6PM PT on Friday, December 13, 2024. Full results can be found below.
UFC Tampa: Covington vs. Buckley Weigh-In Results
Main card
Welterweight: Colby Covington (171) vs. Joaquin Buckley (171)
Featherweight: Cub Swanson (146) vs. Billy Quarantillo (146)
Flyweight: Manel Kape (125) vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva (126)
Light Heavyweight: Vitor Petrino (204.5) vs. Dustin Jacoby (205.5)
Bantamweight: Adrian Yañez (136) vs. Daniel Marcos (136)
Light Heavyweight: Navajo Stirling (206) vs. Tuco Tokkos (206)
Preliminary card
Lightweight: Michael Johnson (156) vs. Ottman Azaitar (156)
Lightweight: Joel Álvarez (156) vs. Drakkar Klose (156)
Featherweight: Sean Woodson (145.5) vs. Fernando Padilla (145.5)
Featherweight: Miles Johns (146) vs. Felipe Lima (146)
Women’s Flyweight: Miranda Maverick (126) vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth (126)
Bantamweight: Davey Grant (136) vs. Ramon Taveras (136)
Women’s Strawweight: Josefine Lindgren Knutsson (116) vs. Piera Rodriguez (116)
