Colby Covington may have let his mask slip after making a vile remark about Leon Edwards' late father ahead of their UFC welterweight title fight on Saturday.

'I'm bringing you to the seventh layer of hell,' Covington told Edwards on Thursday, before adding: 'We'll say "what's up" to your dad while we're there.'

Edwards erupted, throwing a water bottle at his rival before security intervened. But during Friday's face-off, with the Brit still seething, Covington was filmed on UFC's embedded show saying something to his opponent. 

Many fans believe he said: 'I was in character,' although it is not fully clear. Some also claim he said: 'Thought it was a character, see you tomorrow', which would have a very different inference.  

The tension between the pair was palpable at Friday's ceremonial weigh-ins and Edwards, who is usually a composed character was clearly still furious. 

Edwards' father was shot and killed in a London nightclub when the MMA star was just 13. 'Rocky' has since said he believes the motive of the murderer was a dispute over money.

Covington's distasteful joke drew criticism from a number of prominent figures from across the world of MMA.

During the UFC's seasonal press conference earlier this week the promotion's outspoken middleweight champion, Sean Strickland made his feelings clear.

'Colby Is an utter piece of s**t,' he said. 'What it is, if you know Colby on a personal level, he f****d over everybody.

'Him making fun of Leon’s dad is the biggest c*** move you could ever do.

'And I take it as a personal insult to me, you guys, the Trump says are Republicans, you guys are my f*****g people, the blue collar workers, you guys are my f*****g people.

'Leon's mum, she raised a boy to be a f*****g man to win a title to be a good man. And a real fucking American would, would applaud for that. So just so you know, Colby is a fake f*****g p****.'

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones shared a dorm room with Covington when the pair were aspiring amateur wrestlers in college and has frequently detailed his dislike for 'Chaos' over the years.

The pound-for-pound great took to social media in the aftermath of Covington's comments to call him a 'heinous human being.'

'Couldn’t agree with Strickland anymore.' Jones wrote in a since-deleted post on X.

'Colby (Covington) is by far the most heinous human being I’ve ever encountered in my life. I won’t even get into personal stories, he’s an absolutely terrible human being.'

However distasteful the performance this week has been by Covington, he will simply point to an increased interest and therefore bigger payday on Saturday. 

That said, he has redoubled the motivation in Edwards who is more desperate than ever to beat him in the final event of the year.