Chael Sonnen’s surprising admission from Colby Covington’s corner in TKO loss at UFC on ESPN 63

Chael Sonnen revealed that he pondered stopping Colby Covington’s fight himself before the doctor intervened at UFC on ESPN 63.

Covington (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) suffered a laceration in his right eyelid early in Saturday’s main event at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., which forced the doctor to eventually stop his fight against Joaquin Buckley (21-6 MMA, 11-4 UFC) at the end of Round 3.

Sonnen, who was in Covington’s corner, says he was on the verge of throwing in the towel after seeing the amount of blood gushing out of Covington’s eye.

“Colby was getting hit on his feet with everything you could do. I mean, he’s busted open so bad that the doctor has to look at it three times,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “Twice, he stops the action to let it keep going. The third time, he goes, ‘We can’t keep going anymore.’

“I was going to stop that fight. I already grabbed the towel. When the doctor came in for the third time, and I’m watching that blood – it’s not stopping. It is going into the eye, and that’s the only thing you’re really looking for.

“When we as fight fans, we as tough guys, think the doctor should’ve stopped it – we’re talking about it doesn’t really matter how bad the cut is from our perspective, as long as it’s not going in the eye. If it’s blinding the guy, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little or a lot. If it’s in his eye and he can no longer see out of that eye, it’s the exact same thing. … This was bad, and it was in the eye. I said, ‘Hand me that towel, I’m stopping this.’”

Covington disagreed with the stoppage, and so did UFC CEO Dana White, who thought that the fight wouldn’t have been stopped had it taken place in Las Vegas.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 63.