LAS VEGAS -- The UFC 202 press conference between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz erupted into chaos Wednesday, with Diaz's team and McGregor hurling water bottles and energy drinks at one another across the Copperfield Theater in a hectic standoff that brought an early end to the afternoon's proceedings.
Afterward, McGregor brushed off the incident when asked on SportsCenter.
"I see it as handbags," McGregor said. "They walked out shouting, talking. But what was it? We're here ready to fight. We're ready for war. So, let's bring it."
The incident marked the second time in as many fights that a press conference between McGregor and Diaz ended with a skirmish of some kind. Back in March, the two rivals nearly came to blows when McGregor punched Diaz's hand during a pre-fight staredown ahead of UFC 196.
This time around though, it was Diaz who incited the melee by storming out of the press conference early and throwing the first bottle at McGregor, just minutes after the reigning UFC featherweight champion showed up to the media event almost a half-hour late.
"I just saw bottles being thrown. I was like, alright, f*ck that, you want to try throwing bottles? I'll throw cans," McGregor explained to the LA Times, adding sarcastically. "But it was all in self-defense. I was scared for my life."
The cold demeanor of McGregor in the aftermath of Wednesday's confrontation stands in stark contrast to the exuberance with which McGregor handled the ride to UFC 196.
That shift in attitude has been a constant for McGregor in the lead-up to UFC 202, and on Wednesday, McGregor reiterated that his focus for the rematch is simply to make it to fight night, rather than worry about the theatrical side of the game.
"That's why you saw that up there," McGregor said on SportsCenter. "I'm here to fight. I'm not here to talk and do these stupid press conferences that they keep trying to get me to do.
"You've got to do what's right for and not what's right for everybody else. So that was something I just said to myself, you know what, the time now is for me to focus and do what I came in here to do. I came here just to fight. I didn't come in here to do all the other stuff. I'm signed and I'm paid to fight, so that's it."
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