UFC 296, Edwards vs. Covington -- watch, stream, predictions - ESPN

Leon Edwards will defend his welterweight championship against third-time title challenger Colby Covington in the main event of UFC 296 on Saturday in Las Vegas.

The co-main event at T-Mobile Arena is also a title fight, with Alexandre Pantoja making the first defense of his flyweight belt against Brandon Royval.

The main card will be onESPN+ pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. ET, with prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. and early prelims on ESPN+ at 6 p.m.

Edwards (21-3, 1 NC) is unbeaten in his last 12 fights. The No. 4 fighter in ESPN's pound-for-pound rankings, Edwards last fought in March, beating former champ Kamaru Usman by majority decision.

Covington (17-3), who twice unsuccessfully challenged Usman for the title, has not fought since beating Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision in March 2022.

Pantoja (26-5) beat Brandon Moreno by split decision in July to win the title. He is No. 1 in the ESPN men's flyweight rankings. The seventh-ranked Royval (15-6) has won three in a row since a submission loss to Pantoja in 2021.

What are the storylines behind the top fights at UFC 296? How are experts breaking them down? What do the fighters have to say? Here is the fight card, how to watch it and a collection of all of the UFC 296 essentials.

ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET
Welterweight: Leon Edwards © vs. Colby Covington
Men's flyweight: Alexandre Pantoja © vs. Brandon Royval
Welterweight: Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Stephen Thompson
Lightweight: Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett

ESPN2/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
Men's featherweight: Josh Emmett vs. Bryce Mitchell
Women's bantamweight: Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa
Men's bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt vs. Brian Kelleher
Women's flyweight: Casey O'Neill vs. Ariane Lipski
ESPN+, 6 p.m.
Light heavyweight: