Colby Covington faces Joaquin Buckley in the new UFC Fight Night main event on December 14 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. The latter was originally scheduled to top the card against Ian Machado Garry.
Garry (15-0) of Ireland was pulled to battle Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0) on December 7 in the UFC 310 co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Rakhmonov was set to headline the PPV against current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad (24-3, 1 NC) of Chicago, who was forced to withdraw due to infection in his foot.
Dana White made the announcement via a new short video on YouTube. UFC CEO also confirmed that the Garry vs Rakhmonov matchup is set as a five-round 170-pound title eliminator.
The UFC 310 previously scheduled co-main event, pitting Alexandre Pantoja (28-5) against Kai Asakura (21-4), has now been slotted atop the fight card. The contest features the current flyweight champion of Brazil up against the two-time Rizin bantamweight champion of Japan, who makes his promotional debut.
Battling it out at UFC Tampa, 36-year-old Colby Covington (17-4) of Clovis, California returns to action after a year of layoff. The former interim welterweight champion dropped a unanimous decision against Leon Edwards last December in his third attempt to land a full title.
Joaquin Buckley (20-6) won five fights in a row. In his previous outing in October, the 30-year-old native of of St. Louis, Missouri KO’d Stephen Thompson in the third round.