Much like Donald Trump's electoral defeat in 2020, Colby Covington doesn't see his loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 296 as legitimate.

'I think they stack the deck against us because they don't want 'we the people' to have control of this country again,' Covington told Fox News' Jesse Watters on Wednesday, doubling down on his claim that the judges ruled against him out of their hatred of the former President. 'That's what Trump stands for: He stands for democracy, he stands for freedom.'

Covington's identity as a UFC fighter has become intertwined with his support for Trump, who attended Saturday's welterweight title bout in Las Vegas, only to rush to the exit during the middle of the defeated fighter's post-bout speech.

When Covington has won, he's credited the support from Trump and his family. But when he lost on Saturday, Covington accused the judges of harboring anti-Trump bias and penalizing him as a result. And the ensuing days have only intensified his suspicions.

'They're gonna do everything they can to keep us down, from shadow banning us online – even if we're saying the truth – they're gonna make us censored and not let the people see that,' Covington told Watters without specifying, exactly, who 'they' are.

'If it's in a judging position in a fight or any type of athletic sporting event, they're gonna stack the deck against us,' he continued. 'It's a sad time in our country, but 'we the people' we need to rise up and we can't let this keep us down.'

Judges Derek Clearly, Sal D'Amato and Chris Lee all scored the bout 49-46. 

UFC founder Dana White and many of the promotion's fans are vocal Trump supporters. However, judges are picked by respective state governing bodies, meaning White is excluded from that process.  

Not only did Covington claim he won Saturday's bout, but he was seconded by Watters, who admittedly wasn't watching.

'I'm sorry,' Watters said. 'I couldn't make it.'

Watters' belief that Covington beat Edwards resulted from the fight stats, which he began perusing during Wednesday's interview.

'Looking at the total strikes here,' Watters said. 'You got more total strikes. Same amount to the head. You were in control much longer than he was.

'But it looks like you won on paper.'

Yes, Covington controlled Edwards on the mat for more than five minutes, compared to just 1:27 for the champion, and he did register more strikes as well: 109 to 65.

But the edge in significant strikes belonged to Edwards, 57 to 44, who appeared to win relatively easily.

'It was way easier than expected,' Edwards said afterwards. 'I'm a mixed martial artist. I know everyone sees me as a striker, so it's good to go out there and show different parts of my game.'

And other MMA fighters agreed with Edwards' assessment.

On social media, UFC lightweight star Michael Chandler quipped: 'If Colby's offense tonight was an accurate depiction of the U.S. strength, we would have never gotten our independence from Britain, lost WWI and got demoralized in WWII by a landslide.

'Colby, you suck.'

'What a miserable way to live,' said UFC featherweight Sodiq Yusuff after watching Covington fail to get close to Edwards over five rounds.

'And Colby gets up and acts like he didn't get his a** kicked for 4 rounds,' former UFC fighter Ben Askren posted.

Edwards poked fun of Covington's love for Trump during the promotion for UFC 296.

'He just needs to grow up and go get a girlfriend or something,' Edwards said of Covington last week.