Colby Covington makes vile joke about Leon Edwards’ dead father at UFC 296 press conference as tempers fray between rivals… after Brit’s father was shot and killed in London nightclub

Emotions ran high during Leon Edwards and Colby Covington's pre-UFC 296 press conference on Thursday, after the American made an unsavory joke about his opponent's late father.

Britain's Edwards sat next to his American rival Covington in Las Vegas to speak ahead of the fight, but things turned personal halfway through the press conference.

“I'm taking you to the seventh layer of hell,” Covington, who supported Trump, told Edwards, before adding, “We'll tell your dad 'what's going on' while we're there.”

Edwards' attitude quickly changed and he threw a bottle at his rival, who was wearing both a 'Make America Great Again' cap and fancy dress costume.

The bottle struck Covington, causing both fighters to immediately stand up to confront each other before security intervened to separate them.

Emotions ran high between the pair when Covington made a joke about Leon Edwards' father

British fighter Edwards was calm until Covington made an unsavory joke about his late father