Joaquin Buckley dominated the main event of UFC Tampa, but the ending was still a bit disappointing when the ringside doctor effectively stopped the fight due to a gruesome cut suffered by Colby Covington that was getting worse with each round.

The wound above Covington’s eye was opened in the first round by an uppercut landed by Buckley and the wound suffered repeated damage in almost every exchange. The doctor examined Covington in the third round and she actually expressed concern that he might lose his eyelid if the cut got any worse, so referee Dan Miragliotta had no choice but to stop the contest.

While Buckley was winning lopsidedly up to that point, UFC CEO Dana White still disagreed with the stoppage and believes the decision would have been different had the fight taken place a little closer to home.

“It was a bad cut, no doubt about it, but this fight won’t be finished in Vegas,” White said at UFC Tampa’s post-fight press conference. “This fight continues in Vegas. 100 percent.”

Although White believes the fight would have continued if ringside doctors in Nevada had examined the cut, he also didn’t see much disappointment on Covington’s face when the fight was stopped.

Over more than two rounds, Covington absorbed a lot of damage with 71 significant hits from Buckley. White praised Covington for weathering the onslaught with great perseverance, but he also didn’t see much of a turnaround before the stoppage.

“Listen, Colby is an older guy who fights every now and then,” White said. “He’s always durable and he’s always tough, like I just said. Did you hear the body shots that hit him tonight? And the headshots he took? That stuff would have stopped other guys. Colby is tough, but I also get the feeling that Colby wasn’t too upset that the fight was stopped by the cut. The cut definitely bothered him.

“He’s obviously still one of the best. What we said about him all night long, he took big shots, stayed there, the cut obviously bothered him, but I also believe that if this fight happens in Vegas, this fight won’t end with this cut. But I don’t think Colby was very upset when it happened (was stopped). It bothered him.”

Between two separate rounds, Covington had a cutman tend to his gaping wound to slow the bleeding.

Despite his best efforts to treat the wound, Covington continued to wipe his eye as the cut significantly affected him throughout the fight.

“It definitely bothered him,” White said. “Literally, as soon as the corner would fix it, he’s waiting to go back out and he rips it open again and makes it start bleeding again. That alone shows that it put a lot of strain on him.”

Even though the UFC Tampa main event didn’t end dramatically with a knockout, submission or even a final decision, White still praises Buckley for a job well done.

Although he believes the fight in Nevada would have gone further compared to what happened in Florida, White knows that Buckley won one-sidedly before eventually moving to 6-0 at UFC welterweight.

“Listen, if you beat Colby Covington, it’s a big deal,” White said of Buckley’s performance. “Love him or hate him, (Colby Covington is) one hell of a tough guy. Took big hits to the body tonight. He delivered big blows to the head that would have knocked out a lot of people. Colby is durable and tough, but if you get hurt anything can happen.”