UFC 296 takeaways -- Leon Edwards rises above the hate to confirm welterweight king status - ESPN

Leon Edwards reminded the world that he is the welterweight king of MMA against Colby Covington. Alexandre Pantoja cruised in his title defense against Brandon Royval, while Josh Emmett reminded the world of how devastatingly powerful he can be. Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim highlight the biggest takeaways from the final UFC event of 2023.

Many MMA fans spent the last couple of days horrified and outraged by Colby Covington's classless reference to the deceased father of Leon Edwards at Thursday's UFC 296 press conference. But Edwards left that low blow behind in the dark past and kept his focus on Saturday's fight, when he knew he would have an opportunity to have the last word.

And did he ever. Edwards dominated Covington for five rounds to earn a clear unanimous decision and retain his welterweight championship.

In the end, Edwards was the one getting cheers at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and Covington was being roundly booed — which was the opposite of how the fans had greeted the two fighters as they walked out for the main event.

But the fans had just watched Edwards control the fight the whole way, not just in the standup but even in some grappling exchanges. Covington, a wrestling-first cardio machine whose striking is rudimentary at best, never threatened to swing the fight his way. He was just 2 of 10 on takedowns, and Edwards had the same number of takedowns in only three tries. That was a humiliating comeuppance.

The challenger did spend the last minute or so in top position on the canvas, but it was telling that he did not take any chances to try for a finish. By then, Covington had to know he was behind on the scorecards, so this passive final minute was a clear indication that «Chaos» just didn't want