They mocked, insulted and crossed lines nobody should cross. Then the cage door closed. Here's the best instant karma in combat sports, ranked.
UFC 296, 2023. At the press conference, Colby Covington brought up Leon Edwards' late father, who was killed in London when Edwards was a teenager.
Edwards threw a bottle at him. Then on fight night he out-struck Covington for five rounds.
UFC 253, 2020. Paulo Costa spent months mocking middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Adesanya picked him apart with leg kicks and stopped him in the second round — then mocked him on the canvas in a celebration people still talk about.
UFC 190, Rio, 2015. Before the fight, Bethe Correia said she hoped Ronda Rousey wouldn't kill herself after losing. Rousey's father had died by suicide.
Rousey knocked her out in 34 seconds.
UFC 196, 2016. Conor McGregor had predicted the end of every opponent — and Nate Diaz, who took the fight on 11 days' notice, was supposed to be easy.
Diaz rocked him in round two and choked him out. Then he said the line that became a meme: "I'm not surprised."
UFC 245, 2019. Colby Covington had insulted Kamaru Usman for more than a year.
Usman broke his jaw in the third round and dropped him twice in the fifth. The referee stopped it with less than a minute to go.
