There appears to be no love lost between Bellator MMA middleweight champion Johnny Eblen, and current UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington.
Covington, as was recently announced by UFC President and CEO Dana White, will face Leon Edwards for that promotion’s welterweight title at UFC 296 in December. Edwards happened to be on hand at Bellator 299 in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday, where his brother Fabian challenged Eblen for Bellator gold.
It wasn’t Fabian’s night, and a bit of a fracas broke out in the cage after Eblen finished Fabian Edwards, then proceeded to have words with his brother. Backstage at the 3Arena, however, Eblens said there was no beef between himself and Leon — and is rooting for Leon to get the better of Covington this December.
Eblen said the post-fight incident came down to “A lot of emotions, bro,” before adding “His brother’s a great fighter, I honestly hope he beats Colby. I f*cking hate Colby, that dude sucks.”
Training with American Top Team, Eblen is no doubt extremely familiar with Colby Covington, who was part of that Florida-based camp before making his exit in 2020 and moving to MMA Masters.
As for Leon Edwards, Eblen admitted that he’d like to face him some day. “I want to fight him too, he’s one of the best guys in the world. And I want to prove I’m one of the best in the world, and you’ve got to fight everybody. He’s not in my weight class, but I feel like he might go up to 85 eventually. But I went over after and I told him ‘hey man, sorry, my emotions were high.’ I squashed the beef, I don’t have anything wrong with him, I just want to fight the guy.”
With Bellator’s future murky at the moment past Bellator 301 in Chicago this November, Eblen suggested he’d fight for whoever would have him. Overall, he doesn’t seem too concerned about where he might end up.
“Man, I don’t give a f*ck. I’m here to fight. I will be employed regardless of where I’m at. I’m a trained killer, I can put people out, I can go five rounds, I’m the full package. Whoever wants to employ me, I’ll fight for them.”
Watch the full Bellator 299 post-fight press conference with Johnny Eblen above.
