Joe Rogan: Colby Covington’s ‘f***** up’ trash talk ‘backfired’ against Leon Edwards

Colby Covington suffered a one sided loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 296 after promising he would vanquish the Brit in impressive fashion to claim the welterweight title Not only that but Covington ratcheted up his usual trash talk to an abhorrent level when he went as far as insulting Edwards’ deceased father, who was murdered when the future UFC champion was just 13 years old.

Despite doing his best to rattle Edwards and force him to fight emotionally, it was Covington who just couldn’t pull the trigger before losing a five round decision in his third failed attempt at becoming an undisputed UFC champion. “Colby talked so much s,” UFC color commentator Joe Rogan said about the fight on his podcast.

“it was f up [what he said about Leon’s dad]. “That’s Colby. He’s the master at getting under people’s skin but I think in that fight it backfired. He didn’t look good.” Rather than let Covington’s despicable insults get to him, Edwards came out in dominant fashion and never allowed the former NCAA All American wrestler to get anything going.

Edwards largely stood on the outside like a sniper throwing shots at Covington, who was stuck against the cage, struggling to react to the offensive onslaught coming after him. As bad as Covington performed that night, Rogan says that Edwards really deserves the credit for that performance. Because Edwards has developed a reputation as such a nasty striker on the feet, Covington just couldn’t get anything going during the five round fight.

“I was impressed with Leon,” Rogan said. “I think that the problem in that Colby fight is Leon. He was so dangerous. He was so sharp. He is so technical on his feet.” If Rogan was going to offer one criticism about Edwards’ performance, it’s that the 32 year old Jamaican born fighter kept engaging in grappling exchanges with Covington.

At first, Edwards may have been shooting takedowns just to prove to Covington that he could do it but over time, he allowed the former Oregon State wrestler to get more comfortable on the ground and that was really his only path to victory. The strategy didn’t necessarily backfire but Rogan knows the only danger Edwards really faced in that fight were mostly self inflicted wounds.

“[Leon Edward’s] grappling is very good,” Rogan said. “I think that’s where the tactical errors were made. That’s what I was critiquing at the fight. I was like I don’t think he fought the smartest way because I think he could have avoided those exchanges and he had this massive advantage in the standup.

“He still won the fight handily but at the end when Colby’s on top of him, at the very end of the fight, that doesn’t look good.” That said, Rogan acknowledged that Edwards won the fight and there was no question about that. He just wishes Edwards would have stuck to his striking where he was picking Covington apart for the majority of the 25 minutes they spent in the cage together.

“He won 100 percent,” Rogan said. “He looked great and on the feet, he is so sharp. So sharp. He’s sharp as f*.”.