Joe Rogan Critical of Leon Edwards' Title Defense at UFC 296

The UFC commentator took issue with some of the champion's decision making in the cage.

Joe Rogan believes that Leon Edwards could have made things significantly easier on himself during his fight with Colby Covington at UFC 296.

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The final UFC event of the year featured several highlight-reel finishes and some tremendous action, and in the UFC 296 main event Edwards successfully defended his welterweight belt for the second time when he won a unanimous decision over Covington.

“Chaos” surprised fans as well as the UFC 296 commentary team with an uncharacteristically reserved approach through the first few rounds of the fight, but in the immediate aftermath of the event Rogan was more focused on questioning some of Edwards’ decision making during the bout.

Edwards defended his welterweight title for the second time at UFC 296 :: (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

“He made choices tonight that were not the best choices to win the fight, but almost like to prove a point,” Rogan said on ESPN. “He chose to engage Colby in grappling in moments where he did not have to, where he could have defended and got back up to his feet. And I think that would be a better path to victory, where he could have completely dominated the fight, absolutely dominated it.”

Covington failed to mount much offense until the later rounds of the UFC 296 main event, and once the challenger finally started to have some success with his wrestling Edwards decided to land a takedown of his own rather than stand up and resume his dominant striking display.

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“Rocky” did end the fight in bottom position, and even though the champion was comfortably ahead on the scorecards by that point Rogan still wasn’t thrilled to see Edwards insist on grappling with Covington.

Covington was able to find some success late in the fight with Edwards.  :: (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

“He found himself on the bottom at the end of the fight, getting punched by Colby, which really didn’t have to happen. That’s not the way you wanna see a guy who’s as good as Leon Edwards fight. You don’t wanna see him make ego-based decisions when you don’t have to. Especially when he’s so superior standing up.”

Following the second successful defense of his welterweight title, much of the fan attention in the aftermath of UFC 296 has turned to who might challenge Edwards next and attempt to end the champion’s lengthy unbeaten streak.

A rematch with #2-ranked Belal Muhammad looked to be a strong candidate for Edwards’ next bout after “Remember the Name” weighed in as the backup fighter for UFC 296, but Shavkat Rakhmonov’s impressive submission win over Stephen Thompson at the same event has a large number of fans calling for the unbeaten welterweight to fight for the title next.

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