Gilbert Burns believes Colby Covington has the style to cause problems for Joaquin Buckley.

Former interim welterweight champion Covington (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) will face Buckley (20-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 63 main event at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida ) (ESPN2, ESPN+). ).

Burns points to Buckley’s loss to Logan Storley at Bellator 197 in 2018 – a fight that prompted Buckley to move up to middleweight – as a reason to favor Covington.

“I think Buckley is in great shape right now, but (wrestling is) Buckley’s kryptonite,” Burns told Submission Radio. “One of my favorite teammates is Logan Storley. He was the interim Bellator champion, he fought Buckley and Logan just overtook him.

“He just knocked him down, beat him with ground-and-pound, took him down again, beat him with ground-and-pound. Destroyed him with ground-and-pound, and that’s something Colby can really do.”

Since returning to welterweight, Buckley is 5-0, most recently knocking out Stephen Thompson at UFC 307 in October. However, former title challenger Burns believes he will overpower Buckley if Covington can weather an early storm.

“Colby is always training,” Burns said. “I know these guys from MMA Masters, Daniel Valverde and Cesar Carneiro, they say he is always in the gym. The guy is constantly training, he is always in shape. I think Colby could cause a lot of problems for Buckley and continue to bring him down with this crazy pace.

“Buckley is a big guy with a lot of muscles. If Buckley can’t get Colby out of there in the first or second round, I think Colby will overwhelm him and beat him up. Colby may be able to get a dominant decision win, or Buckley may be able to score a quick knockout in the first or second round.”