Athletes
Coach Conversation | Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington
Easton Muay Thai Striking Coach Sean Madden Breaks Down Saturday's Welterweight Title Fight
Ahead of every championship fight, UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte will sit down with the sharpest coaching minds in the sport to break down the action and provide UFC fans with insights into each championship pairing from the men that spend their days getting these elite athletes prepared to compete on the biggest stage in the sport.
Order UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington
For UFC 296, Kyte called upon Easton Muay Thai striking coach Sean Madden to provide his thoughts on four points of interest heading into the welterweight championship headliner between Leon “Rocky” Edwards and Colby “Chaos” Covington that will close out the UFC’s 2023 campaign on Saturday evening.
Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: At a time in the sport where everyone is pretty solid everywhere, generally speaking, what is the one thing that each of these competitors do better than anyone else? What is the one element to their game that stands out the most?
Madden: As a striking coach, first and foremost for Leon is his striking skill set. Even as a striker, I’m impressed with his ability to strike from both stances, to target all levels — head, body, legs. He’s got great weapons long, mid, and close-range on the feet, and he’s accurate, too.
For me, the best physical trait is not only his striking, but the toolbox that he carries with him; it’s a big toolbox and it’s really impressive.
MORE EDWARDS: Leon Edwards’ Career Highlights | Edwards' Athlete Profile
An intangible thing for me that is really important is his composure and his ability to execute at any point in the fight. Obviously, his second fight with Usman is a clear example of that — being able to pull out the head kick in the last minute of the fight. Being able to remain composed and a threat through 25 minutes is a big trait and not everyone has that.
Obviously for Colby it’s his pace, his relentlessness, and his ability to chain wrestle.
I don’t expect anything new from Colby here in this fight, but the fact that he can weaponize his conditioning and his cardio over 25 minutes and dictate a pace for five rounds is pretty incredible; it’s really amazing. Most fighters have to pace themselves in some capacity over five rounds — find where they’re gonna sprint, find where they’re gonna jog — but Colby doesn’t have to do that, and I think it’s pretty incredible for any fighter to do.
His pace is one thing, and then obviously his technical ability to chain wrestle and stay relentless in those scrambles and those exchanges is another pretty special trait that he has, too.
WATCH: Colby Covington Previews Main Event vs Leon Edwards At UFC 296
Kyte: You mentioned the efficiency of Edwards there and they talked about it during Saturday’s fight card — I can’t remember who the athlete was — but someone missing a lot, and how, similar to wrestling and not getting the takedown, it’s energy wasted.
How big of a shift or how big of an impact does that efficiency have for a guy like Leon, who is really economical with things? When he throws, he’s landing; he’s not wasting any shots in there.
Madden: Yes! Yes! That’s exactly what it is to me, too — it’s a guy that doesn’t have an extended clip on his gun. He has a set number of bullets and he uses them very wisely, and he hits the target with them. Even the kicks that he throws that are hitting the arms — those things are still doing damage and they’re still weighing on the opponent.
He’s very economical, he’s very precise, he’s accurate, he knows what he’s doing with his strikes, and that’s a big thing. What you don’t want to be doing is get caught missing a bunch against somebody that is not only make you miss, but make you pay for missing. Colby is gonna take you down as a result of something like that, so you wanna be economical and accurate against a pressure fighter like Colby.
Path to Victory for Each Fighter
Main Event Preview | UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington
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Main Event Preview | UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington
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Kyte: Everyone would love a 10-second knockout or a quick submission, but that’s not often how these things go, especially not at the championship level. Instead, it’s usually the competitor that has crafted the better game plan and did the better job of executing things inside the Octagon that comes away with their hand raised and the gold around their waist.
So, how does either man get it done on Saturday night?
Madden: I think this one is pretty cut and dry, right? But I do think there places where Leon can win this fight, and we’ll wait and see if he can dictate the space in this fight.
MORE COVINGTON: The Journey Means More To Covington | Covington’s Top Finishes | Covington’s Best Mic Moments | Covington’s Dream Fights
The open space, I think he’s obviously going to have the advantage there, so we expect Leon to get to the high ground, center of the cage, fight in the open mat; use his length, use his size against Colby because he’s definitely going to be the bigger guy in this fight, and use his long-range weapons.
But in the clinch, I also think we’re gonna see Leon win some of those exchanges there, too. Like I talked about before, he’s got great inside weapons — he’s got great knees, great elbows, he’s got a great Muay Thai clinch; he’s going to be the bigger, stronger guy on the inside, too. I’m actually expecting to see Leon get the upper hand in some of those clinch exchanges. We might be able to see him catch Colby with a knee ducking in or an elbow off the break too.
Leon Edwards' Unbeaten Streak | UFC 296
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Leon Edwards' Unbeaten Streak | UFC 296
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Those are the two areas where I see Leon dominating this fight and where he should be looking to keep it in order to keep things in his favor.
For Colby, we know he’s gonna get Leon close to the fence. We saw it in Leon’s last couple fights with Usman — the takedown is going to be coming from the fence, and that’s Colby’s style anyway; there’s not a ton of open-mat shots from him. He’s gonna dog him there and make him work.
The first takedown, Leon might stuff, maybe gets taken down and gets right back up, but we know Colby is going to be right on those legs and he’s gonna work there.
For me it’s the takedowns and the ability to dictate the pace over 25 minutes, and keep Leon defensive and reactive to what he’s doing for long stretches inside the rounds. If he does that, he’s got a good chance of grinding out a decision. I don’t see Colby being able to finish Leon, but I could see a 49-46, 48-47 for sure.
X Factor
Kyte: If there were one thing that was going to significantly impact how this fight plays out — that swings it in one direction or the other — what would it be?
Madden: For Leon, I think his last two fights with Usman are the X factor for him.
I think fighting basically 10 rounds with Usman and winning both of those fights is gonna give him a lot of confidence. It’s not necessarily the same game plan, the same blueprint — Usman and Colby are very different fighters; Usman is physically strong and more measured, in my opinion — but I think Leon logging 10 rounds with Usman semi-recently and getting that experience under his belt going into this fight is going to be a big factor.
UFC 296 FREE FIGHTS: Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz | Colby Covington vs Jorge Masvidal | Alexandre Pantoja vs Brandon Royval 1 | Brandon Royval vs Matt Schnell
We know Leon has been wrestling his a** off those last two camps and I’m sure he wrestled his a** off for this one, too.
Not only that, but the activity. I’m a big believer in being active and staying active is important for your growth as an athlete, and we know Colby hasn’t been super-active for these last couple years. He’s 35, about to be 36 now, so I think that will play a factor in it too.
And for Colby — if he can, and it’s been a while since we’ve seen him, but if he can maintain that pace that we usually see him maintain over 25 minutes, if he can weaponize that cardio and really make Leon work to be reactive and defensive as opposed to letting his offense open up, I think that will be the X factor for Colby.
Leon has the ability to stay composed and still look for that kill shot late in the fight, but this whole game is momentum, and if Colby can swallow him up with that momentum, win large stretches of rounds with control time, with submission attempts, he’s going to start to walk away with this fight and that window (to finish) is going to get smaller for Leon as the fight goes on.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: Coaches see the sport differently and look at the sport differently than anyone else, picking up on different things and paying attention to movements, habits, or intangible pieces that others might not notice, but that could have a significant impact on the action inside the Octagon.
Every matchup offers its own unique collection of elements that might pique a coach’s interest and get them paying a little closer attention to once the fight gets underway.
So what is that one thing in this matchup?
Madden: This is a fun one for me and from watching their fights over the years, watching their fights recently — the footwork is what I’m going to be paying attention to in this fight, and there’s two things I mean by that.
Leon, specifically, with his footwork, he does a good job, he switches stances, but one of the areas that I think he lacks a little is in his footwork on the outside, near the cage line. He tends to lack urgency in my opinion — he gets a little bit tall on the outside — and he tends to let people shoot easier than they probably should against him, against someone that doesn’t want to get taken down.
I’m gonna be paying attention to see if Leon uses a little more lateral footwork on the outside. We know Colby blitzes in and it’s a straight-line attack to get them to the fence, so if Leon can circle off on either side of the attack, make that space a little bit longer, change that angle, it’s gonna be harder for Colby to get in on that first shot. If he doesn’t, Colby is gonna get in, get him along the fence, and we know Leon has to start defending that takedown.
Colby Covington | Top Finishes
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Colby Covington | Top Finishes
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Defending the initial takedown is a lot more taxing than moving your feet to defend the initial takedown, so I’m gonna see — we talked about being efficient, and in my mind, that is the definition of being efficient: pro-active defense versus reactive defense, so let’s choose the defense that is gonna be more economical for us.
The other one is this: they both switch stances.
Colby will go righty, but he tends not to shoot as much from there. He’ll go right-handed and blitz into his southpaw stance, and that’s where he initiates most of his wrestling, so I’m gonna be interested to see if Leon and his camp game planned for when Colby switches stance, if Leon is going to switch with him.
When Leon switches his stance, that can dictate the shots that Colby can take and the entries he can have on his takedowns. On the other side of that, it opens up different targets for his offense based on if it’s a closed stance approach, an open stance approach.
I’m gonna be really paying attention to see when Colby switches, if Leon switches, or vice versa, and I’m going to be looking for the offense from Leon when they switch stances. That’s the curiosity I’m going to be paying attention to for 25 minutes.
Kyte: For me this is one of those fights where the first five minutes, I think, is going to dictate a lot in terms of how it’s going to play out.
To what you’re saying, if the footwork is better, if those first couple takedown defenses are easier, less work, or don’t come at all, or, conversely, Colby gets him there and gets him down, I think it has the potential to be one of those fights where it’s a tidal wave either way. Whoever gets swept under first is going to be struggling to get up for air.
If Leon gets wrestled to the ground in the first round and Colby is up, full-chested, full of bravado and confidence, do we get to into an Usman I fight where Dave Lovell is in the corner shouting, “C’mon Son!”
See Everything That's Happening In The Welterweight Division
And if Leon is stuffing and he’s picking his spots well, he’s touching him up, banging home some kicks, I can see Colby being like “This isn’t what I signed up for after 21 months off!”
Madden: And Leon is hungry still, too; he has a lot to prove still. They’re at very different points in their careers.
Kyte: That’s another thing for me and I want your thoughts on it because you work corners and work closely with athletes:
To me, it’s a big card and I see those two other welterweight fights on the main card, with two younger fighters, that are projected to be contenders, and I'm really curious to see what that does for a guy like Leon that is already talking about “I wanna go up to middleweight; there’s not really anything left for me at welterweight.”
If Ian Machado Garry beats Vicente Luque on Saturday, he may not call for Leon Edwards, but he’ll have things to say about being “The Future.”
Shavkat (Rakhmonov) is quiet, but 18-0 with 18 finishes if he finishes “Wonderboy” (Stephen Thompson) and he’s right there, too, and I wonder if that gives Leon a little “I need to go out and show that I am head and shoulders above these dudes.”
Sean Brady looked real good two weeks ago, too, and he wants a piece of somebody, as well.
Madden: Yeah, there is a lot of fresh meat in this division still, and if Ian beats Luque, there is already the backstory with getting kicked out of his gym and all that stuff — we might see that.
Kyte: I just wonder what that piece does on Saturday night? You’re certainly not paying close attention to their fights on Saturday night, but you’re going to see their performances; you’re going to hear the roars.
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Madden: The TVs are on in the back! If you’re the main event, you’re seeing all of that. Whether you watch it or not, someone else in the locker room will react to that, someone else’s camp will react to that, so you will know before your fight who won those fights, for sure.
Kyte: And so, does that light a fire? Does that start chipping away a little bit?
Madden: That will absolutely be there on Saturday night.
Kyte: I just want to see what impact that has for a guy going into a fight where everyone thinks he should throttle this dude, because, on paper, all things being equal, he should throttle this dude.
Madden: On paper, 100 percent.
Kyte: But Colby is a menace. You maybe don’t want to acknowledge it, but he’s a really good fighter.
Madden: That m*****f***** can fight! He can f****** fight.
Kyte: Should be fun.
Madden: Should be great.
UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 16, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
