Despite showing his rage during the UFC 296 pre-fight press conference, Leon Edwards admitted crying after Colby Covington targetted his murdered father in a recent trash talk. The Briton revealed that the words actually got into him, stressing that he had to “calm down and stay focused” before facing the challenger in the cage.

To recall, “Chaos” brought up the Edwards father, who was murdered when the fighter was just 13, in his recent trash talk:

“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. Despite that, the British fighter confessed to shedding a tear due to the anger he felt from the scene.

“This fight was very emotional for me,” Edwards said. “This guy was using my dad’s death as entertainment. He used my dad’s murder as entertainment. It took a lot for me to calm down and stay focused and come into this fight.

“After the press conference, I went backstage. I was crying just from the rage. He can’t use my dad’s death as entertainment, and that’s what he did. To this day, it still breaks my heart. He got murdered, and he said my dad should burn in hell.”

Fortunately, despite Covington claiming it was “the easiest fight,” Edwards certainly made his revenge by defending his belt and giving the opponent a handful of shots. Ultimately, this led to Edwards’ unanimous decision win (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).

“I knew I was the better athlete,” Edwards said. “All training camp, everyone kept going on about his cardio, his cardio, his cardio so I knew once I controlled the distance, I’d love to match him cardio for cardio. I could match him with technique and range and to shut him down and that’s what I did.”

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