Staredowns! ‘Rocky’ Held Back By White During Final Faceoff

It all goes down tomorrow night (Sat., Dec. 16, 2023) as Leon Edwards puts his UFC welterweight title on the line against Colby Covington at UFC 296 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the fighters first took to the stage for Friday’s ceremonial weigh ins (replay HERE).

This main event between Edwards and Covington is the perfect way to end the calendar year for UFC. It’s a high-profile title fight involving two elite fighters who simply don’t like each other. The matchup itself is a complete clash of styles, which usually makes for good watching. Add in the bad blood that boiled over during Thursday’s pre-fight press conference and UFC 296’s main event looks to be a doozy.

Luckily, the card is completely stacked from top to bottom. The event will feature additional matchups like Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval 2, Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Stephen Thompson, and a lightweight tilt between Tony Ferguson and Paddy Pimblett. Mix in the likes of Bryce Mitchell, Cody Garbrandt, Josh Emmett, and Casey O’Neill, and you have one of the deepest cards of the year.

On Friday, the fighters took to the scale for ceremonial weigh ins. Afterwards, they came together for one final face-to-face meeting before the action gets underway tomorrow night in “Sin City.”

Check out the final staredowns below:

Covington vs. Edwards

Pantoja vs. Royval 2

Rakhmonov vs. “Wonderboy”

Ferguson vs. Pimblett

---

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 296 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6:30 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.