Buckley had already produced an excellent 2024 campaign, entering with a 3-0 mark this year and five straight wins since moving to welterweight, including stoppages of Vicente Luque and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, but this was his first main event assignment, against a perennial contender with a major name, and he looked outstanding for the most part.
There are sure to be some that want to pick at Buckley’s wins this year, offering “yeah, but” thoughts on the age and standing of Luque, Thompson, and Covington, but, at the end of the day, all three had numbers next to their names, and all three got finished. Additionally, it’s not like all kinds of folks have been marching into the Octagon and beating any of those three as clearly as Buckley did, never mind all three.
Order UFC 311: Makhachev vs Tsarukyan 2
A week after Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry showed they are poised to be fixtures in the title conversation in the welterweight division for the next several years, Buckley delivered the kind of effort in Tampa that puts him in the discussion heading into 2025, as well.
Honorable Mentions: Chase Hooper, Joshua Van, Manel Kape