Colby Covington is known not only for his fights but also for his trash-talking character. The fighter made sure to exhibit it again during the UFC 296 pre-fight press conference by targeting welterweight champion Leon Edwards’ late father, who was murdered years ago.
Insults are nothing new in the MMA industry, but Covington is one of the few fighters who takes it to another level. In the past, the fighter made nasty comments about his fellows, from opponents to other random fighters he knows. Yet, some comments went beyond casual fighter-to-fighter trash talk when Covington included some personal details to offend his targets. The latest one to experience this is Edwards.
This Thursday, Covington and Edwards attended UFC’s pre-fight press conference for its event this weekend. “Chaos” made several remarks to multiple fighters of UFC, but Edwards probably had the worst after the opponent made reference to his father, who was murdered when he was only 13.
“On Saturday night, I’m going to bring you to a place you never want to be,” Covington said. “I’m going to bring you to the seventh level of hell. We’ll say what’s up to your dad while we’re there.”
The insult triggered the “Rocky” to throw a bottle, get up from his seat, and charge toward Covington, who didn’t hesitate and tried to welcome the fight. Nonetheless, staff intervened to control the situation and bring back both fighters to their respective seats. Ultimately, while the conflict was prevented (and didn’t happen again during the two fighters’ faceoff), Edwards made his last comment about Covington.
“The guy’s a piece of s***, but just make sure you keep that same energy backstage,” Edwards later commented about his opponent. “Keep that energy backstage.”
Covington, nonetheless, didn’t let the English fighter have the last words, suggesting to Edwards to “save that f****** energy in the ring Saturday night.”
