I like Colby so I am going to try my best to be completely objective in my write-up about this. I like him because he took on a persona that probably isn't who he really is in real life in order to get the masses to pay attention to him. He also just happens to be one hell of a fighter that was an interim champion and has had a chance at winning the belt back, twice.
His performance in Fight Night this past weekend as a headliner was less than glorious though and things were not looking good for him at all as the 3rd round came close to finishing and the doctor intervened in the match and deemed Colby medically unable to continue.
That is actually one of the less gruesome pictures of how much of a bloody mess Colby was in that fight and he got cut open really early on from a glancing blow to the head during a takedown attempt - a blow, that I think should probably start a conversation about fingernails on fighters because from my perspective it appeared as though Buckley's left thumbnail acted as a razor blade of sorts in this blow that otherwise didn't cause any real damage. Obviously no fighter would really be able to use something like this as a weapon on purpose, but the blow was so minimal as far as contact is concerned, if it was in fact the nail that caused it, we need to have a conversation about that.
Colby was affected very badly by this cut on his right eye. He kept putting his hand up to his face to push blood out of his field of vision and it was clearly something he was very focused on which is very understandable when you are unable to see what is in front of you because there is too much blood flowing into your eye.
No don't get the wrong idea here: I am not trying to suggest that this is the only reason why Covington lost the fight. Even prior to the busting open, Buckley appeared to be categorically better in every aspect of the fight. Covington is well known for having great wrestling but Buckley shut down almost all of the takedown attempts and it was actually one of the successful takedowns that Colby finally got in, that convinced the ref and the doctor to put a stop to the fight. Both of the men in the octagon were covered in so much blood after that, that it would be foolish for them to even try to continue the fight. Even if there isn't a danger of Colby bleeding out (there wasn't) there is a question of the lubrication factor and how grappling is quite a bit more difficult when everyone is going to end up covered in an oily substance any time there is contact.
You can see here towards the end of round 3 that Covington was getting outstruck 5 to 1 and it was a really one-sided affair at that point. I feel as though he was going for takedowns because the stand-up game wasn't really working for him at all up to this point. Buckley is just a lot better than Covington is or at least he was on that night.
Covington, always the perpetual heel and bad guy, said in a post-fight interview that he was "just getting warmed up" and he could sense that Buckley was starting to get really tired and that if the fight had been allowed to continue he would have won. Sure thing Colby, sure thing!
All in all, I was disappointed to not see the fight go the distance because it really isn't that unusual for guys that bleed easy to actually not be that affected by it and there is always the possibility that fighters are playing rope a dope and are saving their massive attack for the later rounds. This is an actual REAL strategy that some fighters use, but in this fight, I am not going to speculate that this is what was going on because Colby was taking a ton of hard shots and I can't imagine that this would be the objective of any fighter. But just for an example, Nate Diaz had multiple fights where he was bloodied like mad, was appearing to be behind on all metrics, and then exploded in the later rounds for a win. It is not beyond the realm of possibility but in this case it kind of seems like a lame excuse on the part of Covington who was being bested in every aspect of the game.
You can't see how much of a gusher the wound was in this pic because they have a cream that stops the bleeding temporarily and they were of course applying this between rounds. It didn't last very long while the guy was getting punched in the face though and it would get reopened time and time again. You can see how deep it is though and it was gushing like crazy especially when the two guys were on the ground. Who knows how much blood Colby lost but it was really gruesome.
The doctor made a comment between rounds 2 and 3 along the lines of "if it gets any worse I am going to have to stop this" and after the ref allowed Colby to try to do some damage during one of his only successful takedowns and the boys got stood back up, he intervened and called a time-out. This doesn't often happen in UFC, normally they will wait until the end of a round. I think it was good of I think it was Dan Murgliata to allow that last takedown before the time-out. The doctor didn't even have to get very close to Colby before she said "that's it, it's over."
Colby didn't complain a great deal when this was announced, it was kind of like he was expecting it and there is a side to me that believes perhaps he was relieved to hear that he was getting dealt a loss by doctor's stoppage.
Now on to what I said in my title: Colby has been near the chopping block as far as UFC roster inclusion is concerned for a while now. He was given two runs at the belt against Usman and Edwards, and he lost both of them. The fight vs Edwards was particularly bad and Dana was a bit livid that Colby didn't put on a better show than he did. When you get on Dana's bad side, your days are numbered at UFC as he has fired people the same day that they put on a bad performance that was hyped up.
For Colby though, he actually DID put on a good performance in this fight vs. Buckley, he just appeared to be completely out-classed in the octagon and was headed for a loss, in almost complete certainty, either by KO or by decision. He was down 3 rounds to 0 on the scorecards by the time the fight was called off and well, that means that unless his strategy of playing opossum was true, he was going to lose that fight. By having the fight "taken away from him" by a doctor, he has at least somewhat of a case to pursue another fight in the future.
I think that if "Chaos" wants to remain a viable figure in UFC he needs to abandon his activist work that kind of put him in the spotlight in the first place, and instead focus on being a top-notch fighter. He got very involved in politics for a while there and oddly enough, it was during that time that his in-ring performance started to wane. I will say that I got a kick out of him coming to the octagon this time playing Hulk Hogan's "Real American" song and while it was playing I said to the people around me, "wouldn't it be wild if Hulk Hogan was with him?" And he was with him.
I doubt there is much of a chance for Colby in the future of UFC. This was after all, already a Fight Night and not a Pay-per-view. I think that if he gets another shot he will be mid card on a PPV and he better absolutely explode during that fight. He also should probably do some groveling towards Dana White as well. I don't want him to leave the UFC, I still enjoy him immensely as a fighter. However, in this fight, he looked like a shadow of his former dominant self and he is going to have a lot of work ahead of him if he is going to make it into the prime time again.