Leon Edwards is generally a calm and collected person but one time, due to Colby Covington’s ruthless remarks, even he could not keep his cool. ‘Chaos’ had stated some scathing comments about his late father that changed everything. These statements were one of the rudest things that occurred at the UFC 296 press conference and this had rattled Edwards the wrong way. He had lashed out on his opponent who commented insulting things about his late dad who worked hard to make ends meet. Even though Edwards was ready to throw hands at his opponent during the feud, recently he gave an insightful answer about what he learned from the same incident. 

The welterweight champion will defend his title at UFC 304 against Belal Mohammed very soon. The duo met in 2021 in a fight, which turned out to be a no-contest as Edwards poked Muhammed in the eye. He recently discussed the rematch and talked about the trash talk by Covington which surprisingly made him a better fighter. Kevin Iole asked him about the infamous incident and how it affected his emotions back then.

Covington has a way of getting into his opponent’s heads and he tried to do the same with Edwards but ‘Rocky’ was rock solid in his stance. He said while speaking of Iole’s YouTube channel, “Um for sure I feel like it’s, fighting is both mental and physical you know I feel like you have to be able to control your emotions When it’s time to compete you know I feel like it’s Colby is good at going out there talking sh*t and trying to get under the skin and he did that. But I was able to like I said; control my emotions go out there and fight smart and get victory you know.”

His father was, related to the wrong groups and gangs. After shifting to Birmingham, Edwards’ father Rufus Edwards got entangled in gang activity and made ends meet for his family. In 2004 when Edwards was 13, his father was shot and killed in a nightclub in West Croydon. Covington was harsh in his trash talk as during the press conference before their fight, he infuriated ‘Rocky’ by saying, “On Saturday night, I’m going to bring you to a place you never want to be. I’m going to bring you to the seventh level of hell. We’ll say what’s up to your dad while we’re there.” 

Reflecting on his true emotions following the trash-talk, Edwards revealed, “I feel like anger was the first reaction you know um just wanted to like also get to and also went back with my team and kind of like spoke to my family and everyone it kind of like calmed me down cause at the time I was like furious and that would have played into his hands you know. So like after going back to my team speaking to my family and just remembering what we are here for and what we need to go and get done you know I feel like that is what I was able to do.”

Edwards had launched a water bottle at ‘Chaos’ and jumped out of his seat when he heard the words in the past. Let’s dive deeper into what happened.

The famous showdown between Covington and Edwards

As per the reports, his father was shot and the plan was carried out by a group of 9 men who were then accused of murder. However, all those men were exempted from the charges after the court at Bristol Crown Court found all the men not guilty of those actions. This is the reason Covington’s comments on Edward’s father infuriated the usually calm Rocky on stage.

During the press conference after hearing the crude remarks, the welterweight star immediately attacked his opponent and tried to punch him after throwing a water bottle at him. However, the guards interfered and stopped the fight before it could take an ugly turn. Edwards has great respect for his late father as during an interview with Joe Rogan, he admitted that he knew how his father made ends meet and what could happen because of that.

Meanwhile, in another interview with Guardian last year, the fighter stressed more on his father’s condition stating, “He didn’t just leave us so he was a good man but, in bad circumstances, he made the wrong choices. But you got to remember that, in Jamaica, killing seemed normal. We were used to gunshots and death all around us.”

What are your thoughts about the situation between Edwards and Covington? Drop your views in the comments below.