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“I Don’t Want to Get Poked in the Eye” – Colby Covington Discloses Bizarre Training for Leon Edwards After Dropping Cheating Allegations on the UFC Champ

Published 12/10/2023, 3:18 AM EST

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With UFC 296 approaching fast, Colby Covington will be returning after almost a year and a half out of action. The former interim champion recently shed light on his training camp for the fight against Leon Edwards. Moreover, he claimed that most of his training was done to deal with ‘Rocky’s cheating tactics.

Leon Edwards is on a roll with an 11-fight winning streak. After 13 wins, 2 losses, and 1 no-contest, ‘Rocky’ now sits at the top of the welterweight divisions. However, fans and many MMA experts noticed that Edwards made use of some unfair means in some of his previous fights. This is something that even Colby Covington is aware of. Let’s what he had to say.

Colby Covington claims his training camp for UFC 296 focussed on avoiding Leon Edwards’ cheating moves

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During an interview with ‘All Out Fight’, Colby Covington addressed questions regarding his preparation for his claims about Leon Edwards making cheating moves. He claimed that his training camp for the upcoming fight was all about avoiding such situations. He said, “Absolutely [trained for Edwards’ cheating moves]. That was my main training for this camp.”

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The former interim champion revealed that he had been wearing his glasses the whole time during training to learn how to avoid getting poked in the eye. This was a reference to when Leon Edwards accidentally poked Belal Muhammad during their fight in 2021.

“[The training] is making sure I kept my glasses on at all times because I don’t want to get poked in the eye. Edward Scissorhands loves to poke people. He loves to detach retinas and poke people’s eyeballs out,” said Colby Covington. Similarly, he spoke about some of Edwards’ other unfair moves, for which ‘Chaos’ has been training.

‘Chaos’ references Edwards’ fence-grabbing tactics

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Leon Edwards, during his trilogy fight against Kamaru Usman, saw him grab the fence. He was trying to block ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’s takedowns, which saw referee Herb Dean warn the champion. Colby Covington remembers that incident and is trying his best in training to avoid any such situation in his upcoming fight. He said, “Also when I was finishing my takedowns, I made sure that everybody grabbed the fence. Don’t let me take you down, just grab the fence and hold on… Just keep grabbing the fence like Leon would do.”

As ‘Chaos’ dubbed Leon Edwards as a cheater, he thinks that the British fighter could also attempt to go low and grab his shorts. He claimed that the reigning champion possessed a low fighting IQ as well. “And of course, he’s going to kick me in the nuts and grab the shorts. He’s going to do everything he can [because] he’s a cheater. So the guy is a f***ing joke, he’s low IQ and I can’t wait to end his reign next weekend, live on pay-per-view,” Colby Covington added.

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It doesn’t seem like Covington’s going to stop verbally trashing Leon Edwards as we inch closer to UFC 296. We can expect more verbal warfare during the press conference. It remains to be seen if Covington can finally become the welterweight champion or if Edwards successfully defends his title for the second time.

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Written by:

Himanga Mahanta

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I am a UFC writer at EssentiallySports, and my passion for MMA and a deep understanding of its intricacies have allowed me to churn out more than 1000 articles. I have covered numerous UFC events and fighters, with the aim of bringing my readers closer to the action and the athletes they admire. I have developed a knack for providing analytical coverage of breaking stories from the world of MMA.
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Edited by:

Joyita Das