Colby Covington says he was just getting going when last month’s welterweight showdown against Joaquin Buckley was called off.

Covington, the three-time UFC welterweight title challenger, was deemed unable to continue late in the third round after sustaining a large gash over his right eye that the cageside physician described as being serious enough to prompt the American fighter potentially losing his eyelid. The bout was ruled a TKO win for Buckley — his sixth straight victory in the Octagon — but speaking recently, Covington suggested that he was robbed of the ability to shine in the later rounds of the fight.

“The fight, you know, we were just getting warmed up,” Covington said on his YouTube channel, via MMA Junkie.

“Everybody knows I’m a fourth and fifth-round fighter, I just get started in those championship rounds. I could’ve finished him in that fourth and fifth round. He was breathing heavy, he didn’t have much more to offer, he wasn’t going to be able to have much volume in those last rounds so, I feel like I was going to be able to take over in that fight. It was a close competitive fight.”

Covington added that nothing Buckley did in the cage impressed him all that much. Covington was outlanded in significant strikes by 75 to 37, though the overall strikes comparison was closer at 81 to 71.

“He didn’t outclass me, he didn’t drop me, he didn’t really hurt me,” Covington added.

“There was a little cut that happened. I rewatched the film, it was like minute two, and it was like a headbutt right off his hip or something. But, it wasn’t from a punch. That’s the only thing that really limited my potential to be at 100 percent. It’s unfortunate that DEI doctor stopped the fight early. I feel like the fight was just getting started, and there was a lot more that needed to be settled in there.”