UFC 296 stars Leon Edwards and Colby Covington separated by security after almost coming to blows following low dad joke

LEON EDWARDS and Colby Covington took part in a heated pre-fight staredown moments after almost prematurely coming to blows.

Edwards will make the second defence of his welterweight title against the controversial American early on Sunday morning in the main event of UFC 296 in Las Vegas.

GettyColby Covington made a crass comment about Leon Edwards’ late father[/caption]

UFCEdwards reacted by throwing a water bottle the controversial covington[/caption]

GETTYSecurity quickly jumped in to stop things from escalating[/caption]

The proud Brummie has been on the receiving end of multiple social media and interview digs from Covington down the years.

Edwards, 32, had to endure even more during Friday morning’s pre-fight press conference at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

But this time, he got the opportunity to get up close and personal with the former interim champion after hearing his jibes.

A jibe about his late father caused Edwards to snap and throw his microphone at Covington following a dig about his late father.

Edwards erupted after Covington said: “I’m bringing you to the seventh layer of hell.

“We’ll say what’s up to your dad there.”

Security promptly jumped in and stopped the pair from prematurely trading blows.

And they were on hand as the pair went eye-to-eye with one another for their staredowns.

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Covington, unsurprisingly, did his best to get into the head of the champ by continuing to flap his gums.

But Edwards cut a cold and stoic figure as he looked deep into the soul of the fan favourite.

Covington hasn’t set foot inside the octagon in nearly two years, defeating the retired Jorge Masvidal in their UFC 272 grudge match.

And Edwards was far from impressed by what he saw of ‘Chaos’ in his decision win over the MMA veteran.

ReutersLeon Edwards will bid to make the second defence of his welterweight title against Colby Covington[/caption]

He said: “He’s not as good as everyone thinks.

“He’s a guy that’s been stopped before by TKO, been choked out before, been taken down before, so there’s many ways that you can beat him.

“He’s just a normal fighter that’s more scrappy, basically.

“He’s like [Kamaru] Usman, but more scrappy, basically.

“Me and the team have come up with a great game plan to neutralize everywhere where he’s good at and my aim is to out and take him out.”