Joaquin Buckley put an absolute beating on Colby Covington, forcing the cageside physician to step in and bring a stop to the bout late in the third round.
In the opening round of their UFC Tampa headliner, 'New Mansa' managed to stuff every one of Covington's feeble takedown attempts and caught the three-time title challengers with a nasty shot that opened up a cut just over Covington's left eye.
Despite the injury, Covington delivered a decent second round where he managed to muscle Buckley down to the mat, but was unable to capitalize on the favorable position. Following the end of the second stanza, the cageside physician made it clear that she wouldn't let the fight go much longer with Covington's eye already in a compromised state.
The third round saw Buckley continue his dominance on the feel while Covington desperately tried to work 'New Mansa' back to the mat. Before long, Covington logged another successful takedown, but Buckley was again able to wall-walk his way back up.
Once the two fighters were upright, referee Dan Miragliotta called for a pause to have the doctor check Covington's eye once again. It only took seconds for her to determine that Covington should not continue fighting, forcing Miragliotta to bring a stop to the bout with only seconds left in the third.