Inter-sports beef alert! It’s a hot one coming through.

UFC welterweight fighter Colby Covington delivered a now-infamous rant following his win on Sunday over Tyron Woodley, where he called out “woke athletes,” and labelled LeBron James as a “spineless coward.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the silent majority is ready to make some noise … If you thought that was a beating, wait until Nov. 3 when Donald Trump gets his hands on sleepy Joe. That’s going to be a landslide.

I want to dedicate this fight to all the first responders, all the military out there. This world would not be safe without you guys, you keep us safe, and not these woke athletes. I’m sick of these spineless cowards like LeBron James.”

In his press conference Monday, James fired back, right after his Los Angeles Lakers’ thrilling 105-103 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their Western Conference Finals series.

“Anybody can talk from outside but if they got into the ring or got into the arena, probably 10 times out of 10, they’d sh*** their pants.”

Welp, this may not end well. You have to expect a response from Covington. He’s in the business of publicly trash-talking all comers, so he won’t let this go.

For better context, this potentially steamy back-and-forth is rooted in politics and social issues, as James and Covington are on the opposing sides when it comes to athletes’ level of activism.

James, as you may remember, was also one of the players who led a boycott for the NBA playoffs in late August as a call for racial equality in America, which halted the games for three days. He’s also one of the most politically outspoken athletes today, particularly against US President Donald Trump.

While Covington has proven to have a loud, brash, and in-your-face personality, do note that it’s also been well-documented that he’s mostly playing a character, perhaps one that’s amped up his true nature to a 100 – he pretty much said it himself. You may have also noticed in the clip above that he’s tripping up on his words. He’s still working on it.

Simply put, he’s a troll, so James and others may need to just let Covington be and allow the internet do the counter-troll.

James and the Lakers will be back in action on Wednesday, September 23, for Game 3 of their WCF match-up with the Nuggets. It should be interesting to see if this will motivate him to go harder on the court, especially since he also played terribly towards the end of Game 2.