Leon Edwards Wanted to Slap Colby Covington Backstage After UFC 296 Presser

Colby Covington can get on anyone’s nerves, and that includes UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.

Covington landed himself a title shot against Edwards at UFC 296 in December 2023. Known for crossing limits with his trash talk, Covington insulted Edwards’ late father at the pre-fight press conference.

Edwards was admittedly affected by the comments but successfully maintained his composure to put on a lopsided beating against Covington en route to a unanimous decision victory. “Rocky” revealed that he looked for Covington backstage immediately following the press conference to slap him. However, the American was nowhere to be found, potentially having been escorted out by security personnel.

“Yeah [I looked for him backstage]. But they moved him, I don’t know where he went but he weren’t backstage at all,” Edwards said on "The MMA Hour.” “I feel like the security took him away and I don’t know where they put him, but he was somewhere… Slap him, that’s what I was looking to do. I feel like he’s not a man. I feel like the way he talks and the way he says, he should be able to really back it up inside and outside the cage. For me I don’t think he’s a man, he’s a weasel.”

Despite barely surviving for five rounds against Edwards, Covington bizarrely raised his hands at the end of the final bell. After the decision was announced, Covington, a self-declared Donald Trump fanatic, blamed the loss on the judges’ bias against his political views.

Edwards noted that Covington is in the habit of blaming all of his losses on external factors. Scheduled to defend his welterweight title against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester on July 27, Edwards is expecting his upcoming opponent to come up with excuses like Covington if he loses.

“Colby is Colby, yeah? I feel like every time he loses, it’s someone else’s fault. When he got knocked out by [Kamaru] Usman, it was Marc Goddard… It’s always someone else’s fault, it’s got nothing to do with him… You lost clearly. I don’t get what Trump got to do with it or anybody got to do with it. You lost a fight and that’s it, learn from it, move on. For some reason [Covington] makes excuses for his losses and pretends like he’s better than what he is, and he ain’t. I think Belal [Muhammad] will be similar as well, two weird people.”