Colby Covington mentioned his assist of former President Donald Trump is what swayed judges to award Leon Edwards the choice within the pair’s UFC 296 welterweight title combat final weekend.
All three judges in attendance scored the fight the identical means — a 49-46 victory in favor of Edwards — together with all 23 media members who scored the combat at residence via MMADecisions.com giving the bout to the champ.
“I thought I had the win,” Covington mentioned whereas showing on Fox Information’ Jesse Watters Primetime. “I thought I did enough, but the judges have never favored me. They hate me because I support Trump. Everybody hates Trump in this building [Ed. note: the former POTUS received a big ovation from the crowd.] It is what it is, life goes on.”
Trump was in attendance for the bout as Covington vowed to have his “biggest role model” current him the title belt as an alternative of UFC CEO Dana White, who additionally occurs to be a pal of 45.
“I think they stack the deck against us because they don’t want we the people to have control of this country again,” Covington advised Watters. “And that is what Trump stands for. He stands for democracy. He stands for freedom. So they are going to do everything they can to keep us down. If it is in any sort of judging position in a fight, or any sort of athletic event, they are going to stack the deck against us. It is a sad time in our country. But we need to rise up and we can’t let this keep us down.”
Nonetheless, Covington, in an ESPN profile, admitted his racially-fueled, right-wing shtick was nothing greater than a persona that started in 2017 when the UFC allegedly threatened to chop him for not being thrilling sufficient.
Since successful his interim UFC welterweight belt in June 2018, the 35-year-old has gone 3-3 in fights. All three losses have are available in welterweight title fights – two losses to Kamaru Usman and one to Edwards.
“I want a rematch,” Covington mentioned. “I deserve it, you know. I think I broke my foot in the first 30 seconds in the fight kicking on his elbow so I want a rematch with this guy. I’m going to come back stronger. I’m just like the American people, you know, we never give up.”
