As far as trash talk goes, Colby Covington's verbal assault on Leon Edwards before UFC 296 was pushing it to the limits.
By weaponizing Edwards' late father --- later comparing him to Hitler --- and putting on an all-time lackluster performance at UFC 296, Covington tanked his popularity, and sentiment towards him was overwhelmingly negative.
Edwards hasn't forgotten and was keen to reflect on the ordeal in a recent interview with William Hill:
"Colby Covington’s comments about my dad were the lowest of the low," Edwards said on Up Front. "My initial reaction was one of anger and it took a lot for me to actually calm down after that. It showed exactly what type of person Colby is – he’s a scumbag. Using that against me to sell a fight shows what type of a human being he is."
"Rocky" doesn't believe there's any circumstance that justifies using a dead relative to promote a fight:
"I don’t believe you should utilise anyone’s death to sell a fight, there’s no substance to that. It definitely angered me and it took a lot for me to calm down and refocus, realising that he was doing it to draw me out so I would go into the Octagon and fight his fight..."
However, Edwards admitted it made Covington easier to fight:
"Having a real distaste and disliking for someone makes it easier to fight them. You look forward to hurting the person and it gives you more determination to physically hurt them. It helps competition-wise, but it doesn’t help in selling the fight. As a man, there is a line that you shouldn’t cross, beyond which is bringing up someone’s kids or late parents – even on the street you can’t do that."
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