Colby Covington is one of the best trash talkers in MMA today, and a fight against 'Chaos' taxes his opponents psychologically as much as it does them physically. In an Instagram post following UFC 296, an MMA coach speculated that a specific loophole gets Covington off hook time each time after questionable verbal tirades.
'Chaos' lost his third undisputed title fight in a row at UFC 296 as he succumbed to a unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards. In the lead-up to the event, the American had taken verbal shots at his opponent, making disturbing comments about his late father.
Edwards' father had a criminal past, and Covington claimed that his opponent was going to join him in hell. The comment led 'Rocky' to lash out, forcing security to step in between the two.
According to a report by BJPENN.com, MMA coach Craig Jones, who attended the whole fight week, speculated that 'Chaos' gets to say what he does without repercussions because he covers it up with patriotic jargon. Jones said:
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"A valuable lesson Colby Covington taught us about America, and that is you can say anything you want. You can walk out, say, 'I hate gay people, I hate women. I think the homeless people should die.' As long as you follow it with, 'But I support first responders. I support the troops, and god bless America,' and the whole crowd will cheer."
He added:
"America is basically a sports team, but a sports team in the Special Olympics. That’s how I’d summarize basically what we learned from this weekend. [h/t MMA Mania]"
Whether or not Jones' speculations are true, Covington is known to show his appreciation for first responders and US Troops following most of his fights, and this time around, it was no different. During his octagon interview following the loss, 'Chaos' made his routine shout-out.
Catch Colby Covington's shout-out below (0:21):
When Colby Covington doubled down on his insults on Leon Edwards' father
After making a gnarly remark about Leon Edwards' late father during the UFC 296 pres-fight press conference, Colby Covington seemingly tried to bury the hatchet with 'Rocky' during the final face-off.
However, fast forward to the pay-per-views post-fight presser, 'Chaos' reverted to his trash-talking self and doubled down on the insults, saying that he doesn't regret his comments.
"Why would I have sympathy for a s*x trafficker, someone who has impacted and hurt a lot of people's lives... No, I don't feel bad at all. Let's talk about all the victims that he left behind that are surviving and the trauma and turmoil that he put these people's lives through. So if don't feel bad at all."