Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis brawl in the crowd of UFC 296
The rivalry between UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus du Plessis has escalated after the pair came to blows in the crowd at UFC 296 in Las Vegas.
Du Plessis was seated a few rows behind Strickland in the arena as they promoted their upcoming UFC 297 bout.
After a promotion aired for their title fight next month, the cameras panned to the two fighters in the crowd to capture their reaction.
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Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis come to blows in the crowd. X: @JoshIsner
But once the cameras moved on, all hell broke loose ringside.
In videos of the incident posted to social media, Strickland appeared to politely ask spectators between them to move out of the way before jumping rows of seating to get to du Plessis.
An all-out brawl then transpired with both fighters exchanging blows before security intervened to separate the two.
UFC boss Dana White can also be seen trying to restore order.
Strickland reportedly left the event.
A day earlier, du Plessis added fuel to the fire when the pair interacted on stage at a press conference.
Du Plessis commented on Strickland's abusive father which triggered an emotional reaction from the American.
"You think your dad beat the shit out of you? Your dad doesn't have shit 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 your daddy comes in and beats the shit out of you."
Strickland later called out the comments in a lengthy post on X.
"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."
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
