Ex-UFC star claims "celebrity lifestyle" is one of the major reasons for Colby Covington's disappointing loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 296
Colby Covington looked far from his best at UFC 296 when he lost to Leon Edwards, and a former UFC fighter says it is because of his lifestyle.
'Chaos' had not fought in close to two years before his UFC 296 main event against Leon Edwards. The ring rust was very visible during the first few rounds of the fight when Covington did not put the pressure on Edwards like he usually does. Ben Askren, in an interview with Middle Easy revealed why he thinks the American did not do well against the welterweight champion for five rounds:
"You know he hasn't fought in almost two years and that fight was against Jorge Masvidal, a guy who he knew he was way better than......And in that time, I feel like, you know he's kinda wanted to live maybe the celebrity lifestyle and not grind like he used to. So maybe that gave him some doubt in his own abilities and that's where the hesitation came from."
Watch the clip below:
Ben Askren also stated that Colby Covington looked scared of Leon Edwards's striking game and that could be a reason why he did not apply his trademark pressure and pace.
Colby Covington states that he broke his foot during his fight against Leon Edwards
Colby Covington thought that he won the fight against Leon Edwards at UFC 296 despite being dominated for close to 5 rounds. The American had a beat up knee and cuts on his face, but still claimed Edwards did not do any damage.
In a recent interview with Patrick Bet-David, Covington claimed that he broke his foot within the first thirty seconds of the fight but carried on:
"I mean looking back, you know, I doubled him in strikes count. You know I had 5 minutes of control time, he didn't have one minute. So I feel like I beat him in the fight you know, I broke my foot in like the first 30 seconds of the fight that people don't know about yet, the X-rays will start coming out."
Watch a clip from the interview below:
Colby Covington did not show any signs of a broken foot during the fight, but that may be due to the adrenaline surge in his body. His lead leg however, was beat up due to the constant leg kicks from the champion, which made a huge difference in the fight.