5 best moments from UFC 296: Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington

The final UFC event of 2023 went down last night in Las Vegas, and to call it eventful would be somewhat of an understatement.

UFC 296: Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington not only featured some excellent fights and finishes, it also set up some other big fights down the road, too.

So, with a great deal to choose from, here are the five best moments from UFC 296: Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington.

#5. Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis brawl in the crowd to set up UFC 297 with a bang

UFC 296 featured a number of entertaining bouts, but arguably the wildest moment of the night came outside the octagon in the crowd.

For reasons only known to him, Dana White decided to seat middleweight champion Sean Strickland just a couple of rows in front of Dricus du Plessis, who is set to challenge for the title next month.

The two men really should’ve been kept further apart, particularly as ‘Stillknocks’ made their rivalry personal with some truly nasty insults at Friday’s press conference.

Whether this was really an error from White, who has called himself an “a**hole” for the seating arrangement – or whether it was a cynical ploy to drum up more heat for the bout is a fair question.

However, what can’t be questioned is the crazy moment that saw Strickland leap onto Du Plessis to attack him before the pair were separated by other spectators and security.

This was a truly crazy moment that has since, unsurprisingly, gone viral, and we can expect to see a lot more of it in the upcoming weeks.

Sure, some observers may see it as a stain on the sport, but in terms of building a big fight, it doesn’t get much better than this.

#4. Cody Garbrandt returns to form with a brutal knockout

Former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt has been written off on a number of occasions since losing his title back in 2017. When he fell to Kai Kara-France in an ill-fated move to 125lbs in 2021, a lot of people suggested he retire.

Instead, ‘No Love’ moved back up to 135 pounds, and then shone in a win over Trevin Jones earlier this year. Last night, though, he went one better when he faced veteran Brian Kelleher.

Garbrandt’s hands looked quick from the start of the fight, and while he ate a few calf-kicks from ‘Boom’, he always seemed one step ahead.

Sure enough, as the first round ticked into its final minute or so, ‘No Love’ struck. He stunned Kelleher with a right hand and then followed it with a short right hook that dropped his opponent face-first.

It was such a violent knockout that Garbrandt didn’t even need to follow up, and on another night, he’d probably have been guaranteed a $50k bonus.

As it was, he missed out on that – but he’s on his first two-fight win streak since 2016, which is probably better anyway. To see the former champ get back to form like this was definitely one of the best moments of last night’s show.

#3. Josh Emmett scores a knockout of the year contender against Bryce Mitchell

The best finish at last night’s event undoubtedly came in the featherweight bout between Josh Emmett and Bryce Mitchell. Remarkably, this one wasn’t even set for the main card until Ian Garry’s clash with Vicente Luque was canceled.

In the end, the UFC were probably happy with the last-minute change. With two straight losses on his record, the 38-year-old Emmett had his back to the wall coming in, and a lot of fans were writing him off.

It didn’t take him long to prove them wrong in truly scary fashion, though. Before ‘Thug Nasty’ could really get out of first gear, Emmett detonated a brutal right hand to the jaw, dropping him on around the two-minute mark of the first round.

As the former title challenger celebrated, Mitchell was left convulsing on the ground in what was a terrifying scene, even for longtime followers of the UFC.

Thankfully, ‘Thug Nasty’ seemed to recover quickly, but this was a very real reminder of the inherent violence of MMA. It was also one of the best knockouts of 2023 and, naturally, belongs on this list without question.

#2. Shavkat Rakhmonov marks himself as a title threat with submission of ‘Wonderboy’

Regardless of the outcome of last night’s headliner, Belal Muhammad probably figured he’d be next in line for a UFC welterweight title shot. After all, ‘Remember the Name’ is currently riding a ten-fight unbeaten streak.

However, the UFC is very quick to overlook such things when a flashy new contender bursts onto the scene, and that may well be the case after last night.

That’s because Shavkat Rakhmonov picked up his biggest win to date, choking out former title challenger Stephen Thompson in the second round of their long-awaited clash.

‘The Nomad’ had no real issues with ‘Wonderboy’. After a largely uneventful first round on the feet, Rakhmonov took things to the ground in the second and dominated the veteran, eventually snaking onto the back to choke him out with just seconds to go.

Incredibly, this was the first time that Thompson had ever been tapped out in 25 professional fights.

It’s hard to question the credentials of the Kazakh native at this point. ‘The Nomad’ is now 18-0, holds six wins in the UFC, and has still never been the distance.

Put simply, he’s a special fighter with no weaknesses, and even if Muhammad is on a longer win streak, who will the fans really want to see fight for the title?

The answer is simple – it’s the fighter from Kazakhstan who produced a truly memorable moment last night.

#1. Leon Edwards shuts Colby Covington down and shuts his mouth to retain his welterweight title

Sure, the fight itself wasn’t all that entertaining, and he didn’t deliver the knockout he’d have wanted, but UFC welterweight kingpin Leon Edwards will undoubtedly be a happy man today.

That’s because he produced not just one of the best moments of last night, but one of the best of 2023 altogether by shutting Colby Covington down, hopefully closing his mouth in the process.

‘Chaos’ turned the rivalry between the two fighters into something horribly personal at Friday’s press conference when he decided to insult Edwards’ deceased father.

This was clearly an attempt to get into the head of ‘Rocky’, but it came across as both tasteless and desperate.

Unfortunately for Covington, it didn’t have the desired effect. Edwards remained calm when it came to fight time and basically picked ‘Chaos’ apart for five straight rounds.

He shrugged off the majority of the challenger’s takedown attempts – only going down once or twice – and picked him apart standing, destroying his leg with kicks and hurting him with body shots, too.

When the final buzzer sounded, there was no question who’d won, regardless of Covington’s protests, and hopefully, now, both Edwards and the UFC can move on from such a divisive figure as a title challenger.

Overall, this would be considered by most fans as a win for the good guys – making it the best moment of last night’s show.