{"id":299602,"date":"2023-12-17T07:24:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T07:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=299602"},"modified":"2023-12-17T07:24:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T07:24:39","slug":"trump-gives-covington-some-words-of-inspiration-before-edwards-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/mma\/trump-gives-covington-some-words-of-inspiration-before-edwards-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump gives Covington some words of inspiration before Edwards fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Donald Trump gives Colby Covington some final words of inspiration before huge Leon Edwards fight&#8230; before beaten American namechecks his hero in the Octagon, promising that he will &#8216;make American great again!&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>UFC 296 REPORT: Leon Edwards BEATS Colby Covington in drab encounter<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Former US president Donald Trump was in the front row to support Covington<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The pair shared some final words of advice before Covington went into octagon\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whatever Donald Trump told Colby Covington moments before his UFC 296 main event clash with Leon Edwards did not appear to have the desired effect.<\/p>\n<p>The former President was sat on the front row beside the Octagon in Las Vegas and Covington, a huge Trump supporter, was sure to fist bump his hero and take on board some final words of advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What followed was a below par display that saw him lose to Edwards via decision.<\/p>\n<p>Covington made no secret of his support for Trump in the build-up, and the 35-year-old, who was returning to the octagon for the first time in two years, was eager to see the former POTUS heavily involved.<\/p>\n<p>While reality went on to bite at the TMobile Arena, prior to the fight Covington was envisioning Trump placing the championship belt around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/17\/06\/79050883-12873475-image-a-8_1702794674562.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Donald Trump (right) offered some final words of wisdom to Colby Covington at UFC 296<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/17\/06\/79050879-12873475-image-a-10_1702795280442.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>They shared a fist-bump and Covington was fired up to put on a display in front of his &#8216;hero&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/17\/06\/79051107-12873475-image-a-11_1702795677650.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Trump-supporting fighter made sure to see his idol before his bout with Leon Edwards<\/p>\n<p>UFC president Dana White typically places the championship belt over the winning fighter &#8211; but Covington had a pre-fight request.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I asked Dana, respectfully, could he step to the side and let Donald Trump put it on,&#8217; Covington told the Full Send podcast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That would mean everything to me, man. I&#8217;m his biggest fan, he&#8217;s my biggest role model. What better way for him to put the belt around me?<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Who better than the most famous person on planet Earth, Donald Trump, to give me the belt?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Trump made sure he had a prime view of the action, arriving with White to sit aside the octagon.<\/p>\n<p>There were some jeers while others gave the former POTUS a standing ovation in what is the fourth time he has attended a UFC event this year. His presence also triggered chants of &#8216;f**k Joe Biden&#8217;, which he no doubt enjoyed.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has previously attended events including UFC 287 in Miami and UFC 290, which also held in Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/17\/06\/79051109-12873475-image-a-12_1702795684961.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Trump was made to watch on as Covington barely laid a scratch on an impressive Edwards<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/17\/06\/79051105-12873475-image-a-13_1702795691421.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Trump was given a warm welcome by the crowd in Vegas, with some chants of &#8216;f**k Joe Biden&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>But in the end Trump was made to watch one of his biggest supporters fall well short under the bright lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Covington barely registered a scratch on an accomplished Edwards in what was a match-up that didn&#8217;t live up to the billing in Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not that that will bother\u00a0Edwards\u00a0too much after he successfully defended his\u00a0UFC<span> welterweight\u00a0<\/span>title\u00a0via unanimous decision.<\/p>\n<p>Edwards executed a leg kick-heavy game plan while negating most of Covington&#8217;s takedown attempts to tally 49-46 across all three score cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/mma\/article-12873475\/Donald-Trump-Colby-Covington-final-words-inspiration-Leon-Edwards.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump gives Colby Covington some final words of inspiration before huge Leon Edwards fight&#8230; before beaten American namechecks his hero in the Octagon, promising that he will &#8216;make American great again!&#8217; UFC 296 REPORT: Leon Edwards BEATS Colby Covington in drab encounter Former US president Donald Trump was in the front row to support [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump gives Covington some words of inspiration before Edwards fight - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/mma\/trump-gives-covington-some-words-of-inspiration-before-edwards-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump gives Covington some words of inspiration before Edwards fight - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Donald Trump gives Colby Covington some final words of inspiration before huge Leon Edwards fight&#8230; 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