Colby Covington has drawn criticism from a number of his UFC colleagues for his 'miserable' night against Leon Edwards in Las Vegas.

The American star came up short in his bid to dethrone welterweight champion Edwards at UFC 296, failing to trouble the Brit before losing via unanimous decision with his hero Donald Trump watching on at the T-Mobile Arena.

It came after Covington, an outspoken, divisive character and a proud Trump fan, sparked controversy by making a vile joke about Edwards' late father heading into the fight.

'I'm bringing you to the seventh layer of hell,' he said to the champion. 'We'll say what's up to your dad while we're there.'

And after his humbling at the hands of Edward, several UFC fighters took aim at Covington on social media for failing to back up his distasteful pre-fight antics.

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.

Light-heavyweight Derek Brunson put: 'Trump over there like, I don’t know this n****'.

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

While MMA and crossover boxing star Dillon Danis joked: 'I threw more punches [against Logan Paul] than Colby Covington did.'

Edwards won the bout via unanimous decision with a 49-46 verdict on every judge's scorecard. 

After his defeat, Covington made sure to shout out Trump after he made the trip to Vegas to watch his biggest fan compete for the welterweight title. Had he prevailed, the challenger planned to have him put the belt around his waist.

Trump was sat on the front row beside the Octagon in Las Vegas and Covington was sure to fist bump his hero and take on board some final words of advice before his eventual defeat.

There were some jeers while others gave the former POTUS a standing ovation in what is the fourth time he has attended a UFC event this year. His presence also triggered chants of 'f**k Joe Biden', which he no doubt enjoyed.

Trump has previously attended events including UFC 287 in Miami and UFC 290, which also held in Las Vegas.