Many people, including UFC CEO Dana White, the fans, and Colby Covington himself disagree with how ‘Chaos’s UFC Tampa clash against Joaquin Buckley ended. After all, the doctor stepped in during the third round and declared that the Clovis native would be unable to continue, handing the former interim champ his second consecutive loss.

However, Covington’s coach and cornerman, the verbose Chael Sonnen thinks the doctor’s stoppage was justified. Why? Well because ‘Uncle Chael’ has revealed that he was on the cusp of throwing in the towel just as the referee and the doctor stopped the fight. Which, of course, ‘Chaos’ would have disagreed with. But the welterweight certainly understands why Sonnen would have done it, and feels it would have been justified, as he revealed on a recent live stream.

“My opinions is that Chael cares about me. He’s a real one. If he was throwing it [the towel] in, its ‘cuz he knows I can’t see. He knows where the cut was, it’s bleeding into my right eye and I couldn’t see. I was seeing three or four different people. That guy [Buckley] couldn’t do nothing to me, not even seeing anything, coming off the couch,” ‘Chaos’ said.

“Look at how far my back was against the wall… I don’t want sympathy but I did that for the company. But he [Sonnen] knew I couldn’t see. So if he was gonna do it it was because he cares about me,” Covington told fans when asked about Sonnen’s comments about throwing in the towel at Tampa.

Indeed, Covington did take the Buckley fight on pretty short notice. Ian Garry was supposed to originally fight ‘New Mansa’ in Tampa earlier this year, but filled in for Belal Muhammad at UFC 310, leaving Buckley without an opponent three weeks from the clash. Thankfully, ‘Chaos’ stepped up, but since he had less than a month to prepare for the fight, couldn’t have a full camp, as Covington pointed out in the live stream. But what is done is done, as they say. Now, however, Covington faces a tough choice.

What is next for Colby Covington?

Colby Covington isn’t getting another title shot. The road is too long and Covington too old to make his way back up the division again. Of course, there have been a couple of guys like Randy Couture and Glover Teixeira who were able to become champions in their forties.

But the bigger problem is that Covington doesn’t seem like the same fighter he was a couple of years ago. Maybe his slip-in form is a one-time affair and ‘Chaos’ could come back in his next fight looking like his old self, but that seems unlikely. After all, he couldn’t go five rounds with the then #9 ranked striker Buckley even though the latter was a favorable stylistic matchup for him.

Now, ‘Chaos’ could either fight one of the young up-and-comers like Carlos Prates, Michael ‘Venom’ Page, or Michael Morales. Or, the Clovis native could fight the man who is already calling him out– the legendary Gilbert Burns. Since ‘Durinho’ is ranked #8, one place higher than ‘Chaos’, he might be the best choice. On the other hand, Burns is also a competent wrestler and Covington may want to fight a striker like Page or Prates. What do you think about Colby Covington’s comments about Chael Sonnen possibly throwing in the towel at UFC Tampa?