Middleweight champion Sean Strickland clashed with challenger Dricus du Plessis in a chaotic UFC 296 sideshow.
Cameras caught Strickland firing an imaginary gun at du Plessis on Sunday (AEDT), with the latter mocking a dodge.
Once cameras cut away, phone footage captured by patrons showed the pair exchanging blows as nearby kids fled, adding to already considerable tension between them.
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Du Plessis inflamed grievances when he made a comment about Strickland’s father during a recent promotional press conference.
The pair had to be separated by security during their face-off.
“You think your dad beat the s… out of you? Your dad doesn’t have s… on me,” du Plessis said.
“Every childhood memory you have is going to come back when I’m in there with you.
“The one where you lay in bed at night and you daddy comes in and beats the s… out of you.”
Strickland responded via a legnthy post on social media ahead of his middleweight title defence against du Plessis.
“There are a lot of kids out there who have been abused and molested and it’s a damn tragic thing that forever changes you,” he wrote.
“How you function, how you view the world, how you treat relationships, how you handle addiction and for someone to put you down with that level of trauma on a world stage is an utter disgrace.
“I have a big following of people who suffered trauma, molestation and I will tell you that it’s not funny to me, whatever you’ve gone through or have been through isn’t funny to me……..
“I hope you all understand that these are weak men who don’t understand hardship, they don’t understand what it’s like to live with demons…
“Forever a struggle they will never understand.”