Bitter rivals come to blows in wild crowd brawl at UFC 296 as kids flee

Tensions boiled over in the crowd at UFC 296 as two star fighters came to blows in a shock fist fight that overshadowed the main event.

Sean Strickland punches Dricus Du Plessis.

Things got heated inside the octagon on Sunday (AEDT) in Las Vegas, and apparently outside of it as well.

The NY Post reports At UFC 296 at T-Mobile Arena, there was a fracas at UFC 296 at the T-Mobile Arena between fighters Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis, who were not even competing for real, as the two came to blows.

In videos from inside the venue, Strickland, 32, is seen standing up and sharing words with du Plessis, 29, from their respective seats before Strickland appears to ask people behind him to move out of the way.

After they seemed to oblige, Strickland leapt over at least one row of chairs before he started hammering with his right hand to du Plessis’ head, getting in a number of shots before the fight was eventually broken up, with UFC CEO Dana White in the middle of stopping things, per MMA Mania.

The TV broadcast cut away just as they exchanged blows and Strickland jumped back.

A child caught up in the incident is the son of welterweight veteran Gilbert Burns.

Strickland was seen calmly asking Burns’ wife and son to move aside before using their seats to leap over and attack du Plessis.

Security rushed in to stop the pair and Strickland was ushered out of the arena.

Sean Strickland punches Dricus Du Plessis. Photo: Twitter.

Stickland’s front row seats were right next to jiu-jitsu legend Craig Jones and Australia’s Alex Volkanovski.

Volkanovski confirmed on Twitter: “They came to blows.”

According to ESPN broadcaster Jon Anik, Strickland was removed from the arena following the brawl.

After the altercation, Strickland took to X.

“I go hard on everyone I know this, izzy mouth feeding his dog, Dricus kissing his coach and grabbing his cup,” he wrote on social media, seemingly also calling out fighter Israel Adesanya.

Sean Strickland went rogue and threw hands at his rival. Photo: Twitter.

“(Sean O’Malley) talking about sharing his wife in a podcast. You’re a man, on a world stage doing this in public.”

The fiery incident came on the heels of a contentious press conference on Friday that was promoting UFC 297 in Toronto, which will pit Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) and du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC).

During the heated event, the two had to be separated by White.

During the presser, Strickland also took some shots at Colby Covington, lost to Leon Edwards in Vegas as part of UFC 296’s main event.

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.