UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Buckley

Mixed martial arts event in 2024

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UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Buckley (also known as UFC on ESPN 63) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on December 14, 2024, at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, United States.

Background

The event marked the promotion's fourth visit to Tampa and first since UFC Fight Night: Joanna vs. Waterson in October 2019.

A welterweight bout between Joaquin Buckley and Ian Machado Garry was expected to headline the event. However, Garry was pulled to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 a week earlier and was replaced by former interim UFC Welterweight Champion Colby Covington.

A bantamweight bout between Umar Nurmagomedov and Song Yadong was originally reported to headline the event. However, the bout never materialized due to Song being injured.

A women's flyweight bout between Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick was originally scheduled to take place at UFC on ESPN: Lemos vs. Jandiroba in July, but Cortez was pulled from the contest in order to serve as a replacement against former two-time UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Rose Namajunas a week earlier at UFC on ESPN: Namajunas vs. Cortez. They were then expected to meet at this event. However, Cortez was forced to withdraw due to health issues that required her to have surgery and was replaced by former LFA Women's Flyweight Champion Jamey-Lyn Horth.

A bantamweight bout between Said Nurmagomedov and Daniel Marcos was scheduled for this event. However, Nurmagomedov withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced by Adrian Yañez.

A women's strawweight rematch between Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas was scheduled for this event. The duo previously met at the promotion's last visit to Tampa, when Ribas won by unanimous decision. However, the bout was moved to January 11, 2025 to serve as the main event at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Ribas 2.