Dana White, the UFC boss, didn’t hold back when it came to Colby Covington’s performance against Leon Edwards. The UFC 296 main event didn’t go as many expected.
White was the one who suggested Covington for the title shot. This was despite the fact that Belal Muhammad, who was on a 10-fight winning streak, was widely seen as the rightful contender. White stuck to his guns, even though Edwards kept pointing out Covington’s long absence from the ring and his recent lack of success.
Edwards wasn’t just all talk. He promised to give “Chaos” a rude awakening, and he delivered. In the UFC 296 headliner, “Rocky” outperformed Covington on their feet, blocked his wrestling moves, and even managed to land his own takedowns.
Covington’s response was strange, to say the least. Despite his lackluster performance, he raised his hands as if he had won. He even doubled down on this stance during the post-fight press conference, claiming he was robbed due to alleged political bias.
Even White, known for his outspokenness, couldn’t agree with Covington. To the UFC CEO, Covington appeared “slow and old” on fight night.
White shared his thoughts, saying, “My take on it is when you’re 35 years old or any age in this sport and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to wait,’ waiting is never a good idea in this sport. This sport doesn’t wait for anybody.”
He added, “He looked slow tonight. He got outwrestled. Leon looked good; Leon looked fast. Looked like [Colby] had trouble dealing with his speed and then getting outwrestled too. Not to mention Leon absolutely destroyed that leg, too.”
White also talked about the pressure of the fight. He said, “I think pressure gets to everybody. I’m sure Leon had a ton of pressure. I mean, he was just talking about what [Colby] said about his father and the last thing you want to do now is go out and lose to that guy. All these guys deal with pressure, but Colby’s been in big fights before. This isn’t Colby’s first rodeo. He’s been in big fights… Colby just looked slow and old tonight, in my opinion. I think everybody felt the same way. I mean, he got out-wrestled by Leon tonight.”