In the dog-eat-dog world of MMA, Leon Edwards showed once again that bite matters more than bark. The Team Renegade star kept his cool and outstruck Colby Covington across five rounds to retain his UFC welterweight title.
The UFC 296 headliner took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. Edwards, with a record of 22-3, 14-2 UFC, swept the scorecards with 49-46 marks from all three members of the cageside judiciary.
Covington, however, seemed unsure of himself. Despite delivering takedowns in the third and fifth rounds, he failed to follow up with anything substantial. The spaces in between were dominated by Edwards. He targeted Covington’s lead leg with kicks, relied on precise counters, and hammered Covington’s midsection with front kicks.
In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja of American Top Team retained the undisputed flyweight championship. He won a unanimous decision in his rematch with Brandon Royval, with all three cageside judges scoring it for Pantoja.
The result boiled down to one cold reality: Royval couldn’t stay upright. Pantoja executed takedowns in all five rounds, maintained top position, and bled valuable time off the clock. Royval managed to avoid the Brazilian’s active submission game but spent too much time pinned to the canvas.
Shavkat Rakhmonov, a rising star from Kill Cliff Fight Club, put away Stephen Thompson with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their welterweight showcase. Thompson, who had never been submitted before, bowed out 4:56 into Round 2.
Paddy Pimblett, a former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder, cleared another hurdle with a workmanlike unanimous decision over Tony Ferguson in a three-round lightweight attraction. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Pimblett.
Josh Emmett from Team Alpha Male rebounded from back-to-back losses to Yair Rodriguez and Ilia Topuria. He punched out Bryce Mitchell in the first round of their featherweight appetizer. Mitchell, a short-notice replacement for Giga Chikadze, met a violent, sudden, and unsettling end 1:57 into Round 1.
Emmett controlled the cage from the center, circled on the perimeter, and closed in. He beat Mitchell to the punch with a devastating right hook that sent the fighter crashing to the canvas. No follow-up shots were required. Mitchell, 29, appeared to have a seizure before he regained consciousness. It was the seventh first-round finish of Emmett’s 23-fight career.