Jon Anik surprised by outrage over Colby Covington's mention of Leon Edwards' murdered father at UFC 296

Jon Anik believes UFC fans and fighters are selective when holding Colby Covington accountable for his words.

Covington (17-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) received plenty of criticism for his antics leading up to UFC 296, where he brought up welterweight champion Leon Edwards’ murdered father during the pre-event news conference. Anik, the UFC’s lead play-by-play commentator, has been victim of Covington’s antics himself. Covington took issue with Anik’s support for top contender Belal Muhammad, threatening him by saying “I don’t want your kids to grow up without a dad” in a past interview with MMA Fighting.

But Anik wonders why Covington didn’t receive as much slack when going after him.

“Colby Covington is a perpetual line-crosser,” Anik said on his “Anik & Florian” podcast. “So I will admit, and I know this is the minority opinion, to being a little bit surprised at just how upset the masses were. I can understand Leon Edwards and his family being very upset. Leon is still carrying emotion from his father’s murder, even if his father wasn’t necessarily a doting dad or a good guy.

“He’s still carrying those emotions however many years later. He was brought to tears backstage. I can understand all of that, but I feel like Colby always crosses the line, right? There was no promotional rage at all from the UFC when he threatened that my kids would all grow up without a father. I didn’t hear boos. So, it seems like there’s almost some selectivity when it comes to the rage with Colby Covington.”

Edwards had to contain himself after Covington’s comments but managed to fight without any emotion when he defeated him by unanimous decision to retain his title this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.