Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier engaged in an ugly scuffle during the UFC 178 kickoff press conference on Monday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which further intensified the bad blood between the two fighters.

The brawl started when Cormier shoved Jones during their ceremonial staredown. The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion retaliated, taking Cormier down into the back stage and continuously threw punches until cooler heads prevailed.

UFC's Chief Legal Officer Kirk Hendrick expressed disappointment over the actions of Jones and Cormier, saying that they expect more from their athletes.

"This is certainly not a proud moment for the UFC organization," Hendrick said in a statement. "We expect more from our athletes, especially these two gentlemen, who are very well-trained and highly educated professionals. Their actions were clearly a violation of the UFC's code of conduct."

Hendrick also added that UFC will conduct a deeper investigation about the incident and pointed out that both fighters will face consequences for violating the promotion's code of conduct.

"We are going to reserve our right to penalize both fighters after the commission has made a decision. We expect more from our athletes and we are prepared to levy sanctions to reinforce the appropriate behavior," Hendrick said. "There are going to be ramifications. Whether you're the champion, or this is your first fight in the UFC, there are going to be ramifications from the UFC for these actions."

Malki Kawa, Jones' manager, was also seen pulling Cormier and allegedly threw punches, but he denied the allegations, saying that he was just trying to break the fight up.

"I never tried to hit (Cormier)," Kawa said via MMA Fighting. "I never once threw any type of punch or anything that would show that I was trying to any way harm any one of them. I was trying to break it up, so I put my hands in between Cormier's arm and Jones' head, wanted to break that up."

Jones was scheduled to defend his title in a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, but Cormier was called in as replacement for the Sept. 27 fight after Gustafsson sustained a knee injury.

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