Leon Edwards beats Colby Covington to defend UFC title amid crowd's jeers
Leon Edwards defended his UFC welterweight title with a lacklustre points win against bitter rival Colby Covington.
Jamaican-born Brit Edwards was looking to make the second defence of his UFC welterweight title against top contender and former interim champion Covington at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The rivals had butted heads in the lead-up to the fight, which was overshadowed by an ugly remark Covington made about Edwards' late father, who was murdered when he was just 13.
Both men were tentative as the fight got underway as neither landed a strike in the opening minute before Edwards started to chip away with some good low kicks. Covington smiled after Edwards connected with a hard left hand, with the Brit easily stuffing his rival's first takedown attempt moments after.
Leon Edwards lands on Colby Covington (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)Edwards was the busier fighter and he attempted his trademark head-kick in the second round but Covington saw it coming. Boos and jeers began to echo around the T-Mobile Arena because of the lack of action as neitther of the two had gotten out of first gear. Covington seemingly realised he was down two rounds and began to up his pace, but was still fighting on the backfoot and coming up short with his shots.
Covington finally got Edwards down for the first time but the Brit got straight back to his feet and landed a head-kick. Edwards cam close to securing a guillotine choke when Covington attempted a takedown but the American defended well to roll out of it. Edwards gave up his back in the fourth round and Covington looked to secure a rear-naked choke but missed out on the golden opportunity.
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Edwards was taken down in the final round although Covington was unable to keep him down and the Brit reversed the position to end up on his rival's back. Covington found himself on top after Edwards slipped out of an arm-bar attempt. All three judges scored the fight 49-46 in favour of Edwards, who defended his belt for the second time.
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In the co-main event of the pay-per-view card, flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja defended his world title for the first time after a hard-fought five rounds against top contender Brandon Royval. Judges scored the fight 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46 in favour of Pantoja, who won the belt in July by defeating Brandon Moreno.
Shavkat Rakhmonov remained unbeaten and kept his 100 percent finish rate intact by dominating Stephen Thompson before tapping him out at the end of the first round. Paddy Pimblett was successful in his UFC return as he left Tony Ferguson bloodied up in a one-sided points win.
The Las Vegas fans were left worried Bryce Mitchell as he was brutally knocked out with one punch by Josh Emmett. The American had seizure-like convulsions on the canvas but he was thankfully able to get back on his feet to walk out of the octagon with the help of his coaches.
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