"Feel like I owe you one" - Jon Jones offers to buy Leon Edwards a motorcycle in heartfelt appreciation post following UFC 296
UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards' win against Colby Covington in the UFC 296 main event marked his second successful title defense.
Edwards put on a clinical performance and was never in danger throughout all five rounds of the UFC 296 headliner. He earned a unanimous decision victory over Covington, a win that was applauded by fellow UFC champion Jon Jones.
The heavyweight titleholder took to X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate the 170-pounder and spoke highly of his performance. Jones also offered to show his love through a gracious Christmas present for Edwards.
'Bones' wrote:
"Leon Edwards , I couldn’t be more happy for you. As an American champion in this game, I salute you, that was truly a job well done. Let me know if I can gift you a motorcycle or something for Christmas. Feel like I owe you one 🙂"
Jones and Covington have not been on good terms despite being roommates during their collegiate years. Covington has attacked Jones for his use of PEDs, and has even claimed that Jones forced the UFC to remove Covington from the UFC 295 card, as Jones was initially set to defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295.
Jones, however, was forced to withdraw due to injury and so, the Edwards-Covington bout was bumped up to the main event slot.
Check out Jon Jones' tweet below:
Colby Covington blames judge bias for loss to Leon Edwards
Colby Covington has challenged for the welterweight title three times and failed to become the champion, having fallen short twice against Kamaru Usman and once against Leon Edwards.
Covington discussed his performance at UFC 296 and was critical of himself.
“I would rate my performance a 5 out of 10. I can sit here all day and make excuses. I could have zigged when I should have zagged. It was a timing thing, because I was off, but that’s the cloth that I was cut from, so I’m not going to make excuses.”
Colby Covington then blamed the judges for being biased against him due to his ardent support for former United States president Donald Trump. He added:
“I thought the third, fourth and fifth round were mine. The fifth was mine, easily... He didn’t put any damage on me. He got a couple of low kicks, but then I started checking them at the end, so I thought I had the win and did enough, but the judges never favor me. They hate me because I support Trump, and everybody hates Trump in this building, so it is what it is. Life goes on.”
Check out Colby Covington's full comments in the post-fight interview below (2:27):