Leon Edwards coach reveals conversation he had with Dana White about Colby Covington

22/12/2023 15:00

Everything changed for Leon Edwards after UFC 296's pre-fight press conference.

Up to that point, the UFC welterweight champion had largely shrugged off the endless volley of trash talk lobbed his way by his controversial challenger. But then Colby Covington insulted Edwards' late father, who was murdered when the champ was only 13 years old, and the tone of UFC 296's buildup shifted irrevocably. Edwards admitted post-fight that he was left "crying with rage" because of Covington's comments, and longtime coach Dave Lovell confessed Wednesday that he'd never seen Edwards in that state before a fight.

"He was well hurt by it," Lovell said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. "It took him back. He didn't expect that, as you can see by his reaction on stage. And yeah, it was a dirty, cheap — well, I can't even call it a trick. To me, it's going below the belt. I'm not against a man selling a fight, it is what it is, and if he keeps it in that perspective, all good. But when you start attacking family, now you've changed the rules, haven't you? I thought [Covington] would've learned his lesson from when [Jorge] Masvidal sought him out outside the gaffe.

"But obviously he hasn't learned his lesson, and one day he may say the wrong thing to the wrong person in the wrong time, and the consequences may be more detrimental."

Edwards, 32, ultimately had the last laugh. He soundly defeated Covington in a one-sided decision at UFC 296 to notch the second defense of his welterweight title.

But Covington's ugly remarks ignited a firestorm of debate within the MMA world over whether Covington crossed a line — or whether there is even a line to cross to begin with.

In Lovell's eyes, rhetoric like Covington's has no place in this sport.

"I'm a father and I've got children, and God forbid, if anything was to happen to me, I know how my boys would feel — and if somebody was to rub that into their face or say that, I know the reaction that would happen," Lovell said. "I'm feeling it for Leon because he's grown up basically fatherless, and for somebody to chuck that at him, it's gut-wrenching. And I even said to Dana [White] after when he came over, I said, 'Dana, where do you draw the line?' Dana turned around and says, 'Well listen, you know what kind of scum you're dealing with.' But I said, 'Yes Dana, but you've got to draw a line [at] somewhere wrong.'

"Because if that's the case, that means he's giving the green light to anybody. That means if me and you are going to fight, I can do a little bit of history on your family — God forbid, I heard that one of your family members passed away under whatever circumstances, and then throw it in your face. Is that what everybody's about now? Are we bringing the game down to that? That sort of gutter sniping life? This is what hurt me."

Lovell said he spoke to Edwards' brother, one-time Bellator title challenger Fabian Edwards, following Covington's comments and communicated with Edwards' mother through Fabian. He said the goal was to keep Edwards as focused and locked into the game plan as possible, and ultimately their efforts were successful. Edwards admitted post-fight that UFC 296 was a "very emotional" fight for him, but he managed to execute the task at hand.

"It hurt Leon a lot, and he went a little bit within himself after that," Lovell said. "I had to go and have a little talk with him and obviously the rest of the team. I was actually saying, 'Look son, it is what it is. When you've got people talking cheap, all I want you to do, don't go out there and fight with emotions.' Because if you let emotions take over, he's won the battle. But I wanted him to go out there and fight, but I wanted him to be spiteful. I wanted him to spite Colby, hurt him with everything he did. The game plan went to a tee.

"[Covington] hobbled out of the arena with two ice packs attached to his knees, limping, even though he claims after the fight [that] it was one of the easy fights that he's had," Lovell continued. "Well listen, like I say, mission accomplished."

But the in-cage action itself wasn't the end of it for Team Edwards. Afterward, as both fighters waited for the official scorecards to be read, Lovell made sure to give Covington a piece of his own mind — and things nearly got heated all over again before Edwards and arena security stepped in to pull the Team Renegade MMA coach away.

"You don't want to know," Lovell said with a laugh when asked what he said to Covington.

"If it was to go, then so be it. If it was ready to go, I was ready to go. All guns blazing. The old boy was ready to go."