Colby Covington’s vile remark about Leon Edwards’ murdered late father threatened to cause chaos at the UFC 296 press conference. Brit Edwards sat alongside his American rival Covington in Las Vegas to speak ahead of the fight, but things turned personal midway through the open event inside MGM Arena.
The bottle struck Covington, leading to both fighters immediately standing up to confront each other before security stepped in to separate them. Covington’s jibes at the press conference were largely light-hearted, if occasionally distasteful, until he overstepped the mark by a considerable distance.
‘I’m bringing you to the seventh layer of hell,’ Trump-supporting Covington told Edwards, before adding: ‘We’ll say “what’s up” to your dad while we’re there.’ Edwards’ demeanor quickly changed and he threw a water bottle at his rival, who was wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap, as well as fancy dress as George Washington.
Edwards immediately threw a water bottle that connected with the American’s midriff, leapt to his feet and tried to get at his opponent , with security swiftly intervening. Covington then continued: ‘Little f*****g p***y. Ultimate Feeling champion he isn’t an Ultimate Fighting champion. Better get the tissues ready.’
The crowd then started chanting ‘USA’, before Covington said: ‘1776 baby. This is the American revolution. General Washington started it, General Covington ends it.’ Edwards’ father was shot and killed in a London nightclub when the MMA star was just 13. ‘Rocky’ has since said he believes the motive of the murderer was a dispute over money.
‘Eventually, she came into my room and just told me this, your dad’s just got killed in London. It was something to do with money. I don’t know what exactly. It was some mad s***, but I knew that it could happen.
Edwards was raised by his mother and has previously recalled being told the tragic news about his father when he was a young teen. He said: ‘It was probably like 2am. I was in my room. Mum was in her room. We hear the phone ringing. I heard her crying, and I knew from then something bad, you know.
‘It f****d me up. It pushed me more into gang life and crime, toward the negative. My mid-teens were my darkest years,’ he said. Edwards is usually incredibly cool but evidently Covington’s grim jibe was beyond the pale and provoked the reaction he no doubt sought. ‘Keep that same energy backstage’, he told the challenger to his welterweight title.
Earlier in the press conference, Covington had gone after Edwards, saying: ‘Course you don’t know what I’m going for, you didn’t even graduate elementary school. You’re a f***ing idiot, literally what is your level of education I’d love to know. Edwards said: ‘Obviously you can overlook Colby because he’s dressed like that. He is a decent fighter but that won’t save him on Saturday night.’
