UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards will defend his title for a second time against former two-time challenger Colby Covington at UFC 296.
The news was announced by UFC president Dana White who announced that two will face each other in December at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“At UFC 296 on December 16th in Las Vegas, Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington will headline our last pay-per-view of the year with the welterweight title on the line.”
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Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) had a mixed response to the announcement of the fight with many expressing their frustration at Colby Covington's repeated failures in title fights.
"Can we just get rid of Colby when he fails at his 3rd title shot?"
"That's a great card. It will be nice to see if Colby still got it in him after being away for so long. He should prove that he deserves to the title shot."
"Thank you uncle fester .. finally @ColbyCovMMA gets back to action"
Other fans showed their excitement for the upcoming fight and the build up to it.
"oh nice fights. colby vs leon will be entertaining atleast leading up to the fight."
"About time Leon and Colby fought."
Fans also took sides between Leon Edwards and Covington with various predictions.
"COLBY STRAP SEASON FINALLY LETS GOOOOOO @ColbyCovMMA [flame emojis]"
"Colby will FINALLY be undisputed UFC Champ"
"cant wait for leon to sleep colby"
"LFG! Colby ere incoming"
Check out fans comments on X in the screenshots below:
Welterweight contender Gilbert Burns predicts Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington
No.5 ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns gave his prediction on the upcoming welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington.
In a recent interview with MiddleEasy, the Brazilian fighter backed Edwards to get the win over Covington with his superior striking and stated that 'Rocky' was underrated by fans for his ground game and grappling.
“Leon will win any day of the week. I think he has way better striking, like very sharp, super, super good striking. With managing the distance, and controlling, his wrestling defense got much better, and his grappling is super underrated. I think Leon is very very good but because he doesn’t fight so often, people kind of underrate him a little bit. I think he’s very, very good."
Check out his full interview below [9:40]: