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Belal Muhammad hopes Joaquin Buckley breaks Colby Covington’s jaw
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Belal Muhammad hopes Joaquin Buckley breaks Colby Covington’s jaw

It should not be surprising that Belal Mohammed roots against Colby Covington has UFC on ESPN 63.

Covington (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) returns from a year-long absence against Joaquin Buckley (20-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in Saturday’s main event (ESPN2, ESPN+) at the Amalie Arena.

UFC welterweight champion Muhammad and Covington have had their share of feuds over the years, but no fight between them ever came to fruition. Muhammad hopes Buckley will do some serious damage to Covington.

“I hope Buckley breaks his jaw,” Muhammad said on his “Remember the show” podcast. “I hope Buckley puts him away, and I think Buckley can put him away. Colby’s striking is terrible, his wrestling looked horrible in his last fight. I think Buckley is athletic enough to defend these takedowns.

Muhammad then explained Buckley’s path to victory and what he needs to be wary of when it comes to Covington.

“If Buckley doesn’t go crazy — he throws a lot of wide hooks that leave openings for shots underneath, he just can’t let Colby push him to the fence,” Muhammad said. “He can’t let Colby keep him on the fence and wear him down. In his last fight against “Wonderboy”, he was starting to get a little tired, but I think it was more because he was fighting offensively against “Wonderboy”. He’d knock ‘Wonderboy’ down, ‘Wonderboy’ would get up, he’d try to hold him up, and you don’t really need to hold Colby up.

“You don’t need to shoot Colby because Colby can’t punch.” There is nothing he will throw at you that will scare you. It won’t hurt, so just take all of his hits, stand there in the middle, take one, then give him one, and show him that there are levels to hit. I think Buckley can finish him off, knock him out. We’ve already seen Colby get his jaw broken by Kamaru (Usman), who is afraid to strike. So, I think Buckley, who has much more power and much better boxing, can put Colby to sleep.

To learn more about the card, visit MMA Junkie’s Event Center for UFC on ESPN 63.

Don’t forget to visit MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and other content with mixed martial arts fans.