UFC 296: Colby Covington’s Trash Talk Falls Flat in Limp Main-Event Performance

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In the end, Colby Covington had little more than a whimper to offer Leon Edwards.

Covington’s milquetoast performance in Las Vegas Saturday night would have been a head-scratcher under any circumstances, but after a tense UFC 296 fight week, it was downright embarrassing.

The former interim champion is regarded as one of the loudest trash talkers in MMA — note that didn’t say he’s a good trash talker — and while he didn’t look like himself in the fight itself, he did not deviate from his typical pre-fight nonsense in the lead-up.

The bulk of the MMA world seems to agree that he took a big step over the line with one comment in particular: at the UFC 296 pre-fight press conference, he made a pathetic reference to Edwards’ late father, who was murdered in London when the future champion was only 13.

“On Saturday night, I’m going to bring you to a place you never want to be,” Covington howled, stumbling over his words in a way that would make Tito Ortiz proud. “I’m going to bring you to the seventh layer of hell. We’ll say what’s up to your dad while we’re there.”

Despite all the pre-fight nonsense, the stage looked set for Covington to finally get his hands on the undisputed welterweight title he has been chasing since he first arrived in the UFC in 2014.

But Edwards had other plans, shutting his challenger down over five rounds to win a clear-cut unanimous decision.

“I knew I was the better athlete,” the Jamaican-British champion said in his post-fight interview with commentator Joe Rogan. “I knew I had to control the distance. I’m a mixed martial artist. I started as a mixed martial artist. I out-grappled the grappler and out-struck him.”

One of the biggest surprises of the fight was that Edwards was indeed able to out-grapple Covington, an All-American wrestler, at several key points. The champion completed two of his three takedown attempts, per UFCStats.com, while Covington succeeded on just two of 10.

The biggest surprise of all, however, was Covington’s game plan.

The wrestler is known for his relentless pressure, his unending commitment to his takedowns, and his bottomless gas tank, but through the bulk of the UFC 296 main event, we saw almost none of those skills, which together once carried him to a welterweight title win.

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Through rounds one, two and three, he did little more than circle away from Edwards, pumping out isolated jabs and overhands. He finally had some success with his takedowns in the back half of the fight, and managed to ground and control the champion for most of round five, but it was simply far too late by that point. He was facing such a stark deficit on the scorecards that the only thing that could have saved him was a finish. And as we’ve already covered, he couldn’t make that happen.

A win wouldn’t have justified any of Covington’s pre-fight talk, but after his virulent pre-fight comments, it was more important than ever that he walk the walk, and he sure didn’t. Edwards was still notably hurt by the American challenger’s comments post-fight.

“This guy used my dad’s death as entertainment,” Edwards said after his lopsided win.

“To this day it still breaks my heart,” he added, admitting how emotional Covington’s comment made him. “I was crying, just in a rage [after the press conference].”

“He’s a dirty human being.”

Former US President Donald Trump also attended UFC 296 to support Covington, who famously paid a visit to the Oval Office during the former president’s time in office. Yet in the end, Trump and his compatriot Kid Rock were a captive audience for the worst performance of the Covington’s long and mostly impressive career. Probably not what they had in mind when they boarded their private jets.

With his win over Covington in Las Vegas, Edwards is now on a 12-fight unbeaten streak, which ties the great Georges St-Pierre’s record for the longest such streak in the division. His run of dominance also includes two wins over welterweight great Kamaru Usman, as well as fighters like Nate Diaz, Rafael dos Anjos, Gunnar Nelson, and Donald Cerrone.

He has several dangerous contenders lining up for a title shot, including Kazakhstan’s Shavkat Rakhmonov, who submitted Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson on the UFC 296 main card, but at this point, there is no question he is the best welterweight on earth.

Covington, meanwhile, finds himself in a more nebulous situation.

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At 35, he is a paltry 2-3 in his last five, with his wins coming against a pair of shopworn veterans in Tyron Woodley and Jorge Masvidal.

Ahead of UFC 296, the widespread opinion was that he didn’t even deserve a shot at Edwards – at least not before streaking contender Belal Muhammad – and after his insipid loss to the champion, which marked his third failed bid for the undisputed title, it’s difficult to imagine him ever getting another chance.

In fact, it’s unlikely anybody would have been surprised if he retired after the fight.

Yet it seems Covington will stick around for the time being, to the elation of his dwindling supporters and the chagrin and his naysayers.

“I feel great,” he told Rogan after his loss. “I didn’t feel like I got touched.

“I’d like to get to back to work next week,” he said. “I’m only going to learn from this…. I will come back stronger.”

Maybe Covington will surprise his doubters and work his way back to a title shot. However, it seems more likely that the former interim champion just hasn’t come to grips with the reality of the situation yet: that his time near the top of the welterweight division is ending.

After all, he had the gall to tell Rogan that he believed he beat Edwards in Saturday’s main event.

He is not thinking clearly.

“I thought I won the fight,” he said after his loss.