{"id":297936,"date":"2023-12-12T20:25:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T20:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=297936"},"modified":"2023-12-12T20:25:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T20:25:35","slug":"leon-edwards-shows-no-love-for-colby-covington-ahead-of-ufc-title-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/ufc\/leon-edwards-shows-no-love-for-colby-covington-ahead-of-ufc-title-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Edwards shows no love for Colby Covington ahead of UFC title fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/167\/590x\/secondary\/5112170.jpg?r=1702411596114\"><\/p>\n<p>Birmingham&#8217;s Leon Edwards, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, has lashed out at his upcoming opponent Colby Covington, calling him a &#8216;f****** weirdo&#8217; ahead of their UFC 296 fight.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend&#8217;s main event in the UFC&#8217;s final pay-per-view card of the year will see a new challenge for Edwards, who has previously faced Kamaru Usman in the octagon in his last two bouts, beating him twice to secure and defend his title.<\/p>\n<p>Covington, who has been defeated twice by Usman, is next in line to face Edwards &#8211; a wrestler with an impressive 17-3 record. Despite losing to Usman, some believe Covington could be the favourite this weekend, with the 35-year-old American speaking confidently heading into the octagon on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>But Edwards himself is confident in what he&#8217;ll be able to do, questioning the legitimacy of his opponent being given the title shot after having 18 months away from fighting with his last bout being a win over Jorge Masvidal in March 2022.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/167\/590x\/secondary\/5112171.jpg?r=1702411596195\"><\/p>\n<p>Covington, known for his trash talk, has been ramping up his verbal attacks on Edwards, labelling him a &#8220;quitter&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>But Edwards remains unfazed, telling Ariel Helwani on MMA Fighting: &#8220;I just ignore it. Even outside of fighting, me and him would never be friends.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re just two different human beings and two different men. Our morals are different as men. That&#8217;s it. I&#8217;ll go out there and it makes it easier for me to train, it makes it easier for me to go out and punch a hole in his face, and that&#8217;s it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Edwards also likened Covington to Stifler from American Pie, suggesting he might rehearse lines for their pre-fight press conference. He added: &#8220;&#8216;I&#8217;m going to play a character because I&#8217;m about to get cut from the UFC.&#8217; It&#8217;s easier for someone like that to tolerate, just laugh at him. You&#8217;re just a f****** weirdo. That&#8217;s it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> <svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"> <g clip-path=\"url(#clip0_1078_5986)\"> <\/path> <\/path> <\/g> <defs> <clippath> <rect width=\"23.4329\" height=\"23.4329\" fill=\"white\" transform=\"translate(0 0.134262)\"><\/rect> <\/clippath> <\/defs> <\/svg> Support fearless journalism<\/li>\n<li> <svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"> <g clip-path=\"url(#clip0_1078_5986)\"> <\/path> <\/path> <\/g> <defs> <clippath> <rect width=\"23.4329\" height=\"23.4329\" fill=\"white\" transform=\"translate(0 0.134262)\"><\/rect> <\/clippath> <\/defs> <\/svg> Read The Daily Express online, advert free<\/li>\n<li> <svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"> <g clip-path=\"url(#clip0_1078_5986)\"> <\/path> <\/path> <\/g> <defs> <clippath> <rect width=\"23.4329\" height=\"23.4329\" fill=\"white\" transform=\"translate(0 0.134262)\"><\/rect> <\/clippath> <\/defs> <\/svg> Get super-fast page loading<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/logo\/logo-premium-subscription.png\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/167\/590x\/secondary\/5112172.jpg?r=1702411596239\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can say word for word what he&#8217;s going to say. You can know how he&#8217;s going to dress. He&#8217;s just a character that&#8217;s funny and a clown. We just enjoy it for what it is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Covington has spent time with ex-President Donald Trump before the fight this weekend at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump has confirmed he&#8217;ll be in attendance, hoping to see &#8216;Chaos&#8217; beat Edwards and win the belt for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Both Edwards and Covington have confessed they&#8217;d like to try their luck at middleweight if they win, eyeing a shot at Sean Strickland&#8217;s belt after his victory over Israel Adesanya.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/ufc\/1844877\/Leon-Edwards-Colby-Covington-UFC-296\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Birmingham&#8217;s Leon Edwards, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, has lashed out at his upcoming opponent Colby Covington, calling him a &#8216;f****** weirdo&#8217; ahead of their <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/ufc\/leon-edwards-shows-no-love-for-colby-covington-ahead-of-ufc-title-fight\/\" title=\"Leon Edwards shows no love for Colby Covington ahead of UFC title fight\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufc"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Leon Edwards shows no love for Colby Covington ahead of UFC title fight - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/ufc\/leon-edwards-shows-no-love-for-colby-covington-ahead-of-ufc-title-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leon Edwards shows no love for Colby Covington ahead of UFC title fight - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Birmingham&#8217;s Leon Edwards, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, has lashed out at his upcoming opponent Colby Covington, calling him a &#8216;f****** weirdo&#8217; 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