Leon Edwards and Colby Covington do not see eye to eye as evidenced by their interaction in England at UFC 286. Upon their previous meeting, Edwards defended the title he won at UFC 278 in a rematch against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286.
On the other hand, Covington has fought twice against Kamaru Usman for the prestigious UFC welterweight title. However, he was unsuccessful in both attempts. Usman TKO ed ‘Chaos’ in the fifth round at UFC 245 followed by a unanimous decision victory at UFC 268.
Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington main event at UFC 296
Dana White recently announced the three super fights for UFC 295 and UFC 296 through the UFC social media channels. The co-main event of UFC 295 was announced to be for the vacant light heavyweight title to be fought between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Periera. The co-main event of UFC 296 is an exciting flyweight title bout between Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval.
The main event of UFC 296 is the highly anticipated welterweight title bout between Colby Covington and Leon Edwards. Edwards is the only British or European champion in the UFC while Covington would be fighting for the title for the third time. His previous two attempts were against Kamaru Usman.
This fight was highly anticipated but was not announced due to some technical difficulties. Covington in his part has claimed that Jon Jones not wanting Covington anywhere near him was the reason for the fight not happening at UFC 295.
‘Chaos’ was announced as Edwards’ second defense of the title by Dana White in the post-fight presser of UFC 286. Covington weighed in as a surprise backup fighter for the main event that the British-Jamaican fighter won by unanimous decision. However, Edwards initially declined to fight Covington in his post-fight speech. Nevertheless, the promotion got what they wanted by matching the champion and second-ranked welterweight fighter.
Even though Edwards holds two notable victories over Kamaru Usman who himself holds two victories over Colby Covington, ‘Chaos’ is presumed to be a tougher fight for ‘Rocky’ than ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.
Edwards fights at a pace that benefits him while Covington uses his massive cardio to put on relentless pressure mixing it up with wrestling. The wrestler from Oregon uses his cardio to even out-strike the strikers. It also needs to be noted that Edwards has the striking prowess to finish the fight in an instant.
Leon Edwards rejected to fight Colby Covington despite Dana White’s demands
Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards was initially reluctant to fight Colby Covington after his successful defense of the title at UFC 286. In his post-fight speech, he even disregarded Covington as an opponent when Daniel Cormier asked about the American who was sitting cage side. However, Dana White was crystal clear on Covington being next during the post-fight.
Leon Edwards is unbeaten in his past 12 fights, and he got the title shot on a 10-fight unbeaten streak. Covington on the other hand is coming from a victory over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 in March of 2022. ‘Rocky’ feels that Covington getting a title shot off a victory over Masvidal on a losing streak is disrespectful of deserving contenders.
Moreover, Covington has long dismissed Edwards as a contender in the division when he was piling up victory after victory. ‘Rocky’ was on a roll before COVID-19 and with the onset of the pandemic, fights fell off with Tyron Woodley and Khamzat Chimaev.
To make matters worse, his fight with Belal Muhammed ended in a No Contest and his subsequent fight against Nate Diaz ended with Diaz almost finishing Leon Edwards in the fifth round after getting dominated for four rounds. However, he won the title against Kamaru Usman in a dramatic fashion as he knocked out Usman in the final round whilst losing the fight in decision.
Who do you think will win the welterweight title at UFC 296? Colby Covington or Leon Edwards? Comment below!
