Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz in near-brawl at UFC 196 press conference

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LAS VEGAS >> To no one’s surprise, the press conference for UFC 196 had its moments of insults, hilarity and tension.

That escalated to nearly catastrophic heights Thursday when main-event fighters Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz tussled during their post-presser faceoff and kicked off a wild melee on the stage of the David Copperfield Theater at the MGM Grand.

With UFC President Dana White between the two, McGregor and Diaz posed and mugged each other for a few seconds. With Diaz’s right hand inches from McGregor’s nose, McGregor used his left hand to swat Diaz’s hand away.

What ensued was a mad scramble as the fighters went after each other. White and other UFC staffers rushed to keep the peace.

When training partners and team members from each camp rushed the stage, it had the look of a free-for-all as security and bodyguards swarmed in to restore order.

This makes for an intriguing weigh-in Friday, one day ahead of UFC 196 (7 p.m., PPV) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The potential for this type of volatility was expected once this welterweight bout was agreed upon Feb. 23, necessitated by lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos withdrawing from his superfight with McGregor because of an injured foot.

The UFC scrambled to find an opponent for the brash featherweight champion. Diaz — a former lightweight title contender and no stranger to trash-talking and bird-flipping — answered the call, with the agreement to hold the fight at the 170-pound welterweight limit.

The day after the fight was inked, the two took part at a press conference at the UFC Gym in Torrance. McGregor regularly taunted Diaz for not being as wealthy as he is. In tu, Diaz razzed McGregor for “knocking out midgets” in his 145-pound division.

And for that faceoff, there was a bit of a scrap, but UFC persoel and security quickly defused it.

Nine days later came Thursday’s press conference. At times the pair, separated by White at the podium, spoke over each other. Often they swore at each other.

Once McGregor clubbed Diaz’s hand away, it was bedlam.

For Team Diaz, fighters came pouring out like Nate’s brother Nick, Jake Shields and Joe Schilling,

For Team McGregor, movement coach Ido Portal and UFC fighter Artem Lobov could be seen amid the action.

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The entire time, McGregor and Diaz continued jawing. Each made efforts to elude the peacekeppers and tangle to no avail.

At the oher end of the spectrum is the co-main event between women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm and No. 2 Miesha Tate.

“Conor and Nate are flipping each other off under the table,” a bemused Tate said during the press conference. “Holly and I are making each other friendship bracelets.”

Thought both appear confident of victory, no insults or profanities have been exchanged. For their faceoff they stood, fists raised, an appropriate distance apart, Holm grim-faced to Tate’s grin.

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