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LAS VEGAS -- The lines were blurred long before Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz turned their news conference into a water-bottle-throwing contest.The responses on social media after both fighters transformed the David Copperfield Theater at MGM Grand into a high school cafeteria only confirmed what many in attendance were thinking at the time.Is this the UFC, or the WWE?Everyone knew something would happen when McGregor and Diaz took the stage Wednesday for their final news conference before UFC 202 on Saturday, but what unfolded seemingly veered into the realm of scripted television and felt more forced than natural and organic. The news conference began ominously without McGregor, and White left to answer questions about his absence.Were starting without him, he said. He has to start respecting peoples times, man. Yours, theirs, mine, David Copperfields, everybodys.Of course, like in all good scripted dramas, McGregors absence tied back to a major plot in this rivalry. McGregor and Diaz were slated to headline UFC 200 last month, but that was scraped when McGregor failed to show for a promotional news conference and subsequently retired on Twitter.It was hard not to think about that as McGregors UFC featherweight championship belt sat alone in front of his nameplate on the stage with White and Diaz visibly upset by his absence.I dont care, Diaz said when asked about McGregor. Its rude.McGregor eventually arrived about 30 minutes late and didnt waste any time going in on Diaz and his team before Diaz got up and left the stage. As Diaz walked to the back of the theater to join his team, he shouted at McGregor, Hey, f--- your whole team, how about that?F--- your whole team, McGregor yelled back. Youll do nothing. Shut your f---ing mouth. Youll do nothing. Youll do f---ing nothing. Not one of you will do nothing. Get the f--- out of here.Thats when water bottles started flying and the media seated in the middle of the action, dodging flying objects, felt like they were at a Gallagher show with the mess that was being made around them.Moments after the incident, the UFCs Instagram account posted a video splicing up film of McGregor and Diaz throwing water bottles at each other with the viral #WaterBottleChallenge hashtag. Later that night, White tweeted out the latest episode of UFC 202: Embedded. The all-access show captured McGregor watching the press conference on his iPhone while being driven to the MGM Grand. It also showed multiple angles of the water-bottle-throwing incident from both fighters flipping each other off to White saying, Thats a wrap. Get them out of here... Sorry guys, see you Saturday.It was the perfect promotional video for a fight that, coming into Wednesday, hadnt attracted the buzz most expected it would. More than 2,700 seats remained unsold for the fight before the news conference according to ESPN.coms Darren Rovell, and many secondary-market ticket-distribution companies were beginning to sell tickets at below face value.Fighters and promoters trying to hype a fight is nothing new, but theres a flair for the dramatic whenever McGregor is involved. His penchant for pontificating and promoting is more WWE than UFC. Its no accident that shorty after sending out his retirement tweet, he started following WWE executives Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon and Paul Triple H Levesque.In fact, leading up to his fight with Diaz he has probably spent more time trash-talking WWE wrestlers than his opponent on Saturday.For the most part, those WWE guys are p-----s, to be honest, McGregor said in a conference call leading up to UFC 202 when asked about the WWE. Theyre messed up p-----s, if you ask me. Fair play to Brock [Lesnar], he got in and fought, but at the end of the day he was juiced up to the f---ing eyeballs, so how can I respect that?McGregor later took to Twitter to clarify or perhaps double down on his comments about the WWE, and many WWE superstars responded to McGregor, who had successfully cross-promoted himself and his fight on Saturday to wrestling fans.It sounds to me like Conor is trying to take a page out of our game and trying to sell a couple more pay-per-views before Saturday, former WWE champion Seth Rollins said on SportsCenter. Its just Conor being Conor. Hes doing his thing. If hes serious about it, the guy is 5-6, 145 or whatever he walks around at, I dont know. Im a full size human being so if he wants to come around and try to slap the face off me or whatever insult hes got for the day by all means come and step into our ring and see what you got.Lesnar, who was a co-main event for UFC 200 and later tested positive for a banned substance, will now be a co-main event for WWE SummerSlam on Sunday in Brooklyn. He is the biggest name on a growing list of athletes trying their hands in both WWE and UFC. Former WWE champion C.M. Punk will make his UFC debut next month at UFC 203. Ronda Rousey is an avid WWE fan and made an in-ring appearance at WrestleMania in 2015. The WWE has expressed interest in the UFCs Paige VanZant.Outside of the Las Vegas Fight Shop, nestled inside of the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, there is a cardboard cutout of McGregor on one side of the door and one of John Cena on the other. Inside, UFC merchandise ranging from shirts and dolls to posters and replica belts, are sold next to WWE merchandise -- also ranging from shirts and dolls to posters and replica belts. The store first opened as a kiosk selling MMA merchandise a decade ago, but has since grown in scale and stature -- adding pro-wrestling merchandise, which now accounts for about a third of the stores sales.I think there is a blending of the fan bases, and its a wonderful thing, said Irv Culpepper, a 48-year-old fight fan who works at the store. We cater to fans of combat sports, whether its professional wrestling or mixed martial arts. Most fans loved that press conference. Its all about promoting, promoting, promoting and when youre done, promoting some more. Without that, without the fans, we dont exist as a shop.McGregor and Diazs performance at the news conference felt like a page out of the WWE in-ring, contract-signing script playing out in the real world, which shouldnt come as a surprise. When it comes to promoting their fights, the UFC and the WWE are both working off the same script -- and often times trying to attract the same fans.No one wants to watch a fight, whether its in the WWE or UFC, thats devoid of any conflict, so you have to give the fans what they want. For every fan that that compared the McGregor-Diaz press conference to a WWE show or said it was staged, there were at least 10 times as many that became more interested in the fight as a result of what happened. The promotional comparisons, however, end when both fighters step into the Octagon on Saturday.This aint no gimmick, McGregor said. This is the real s---. Ive gotta get in and fight a man for real with no script, with no nothing.After Saturday, however, maybe McGregor can do something about the feud he has started with WWE wrestlers and further blur the lines between both companies.This is the real s--- over here, McGregor said. You want to come over, we can fight, no problem. A few of them are talking about the street and all. If they want to do that, come at me and see what happens.There he goes again. With McGregor, the promoting never stops. Cheap Nike Huaraches Shoes . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Cheap Huaraches China . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. http://www.cheapairhuarache.com/ . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Cheap Nike Huarache China . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Cheap Nike Huarache Shoes For Sale . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. LOS ANGELES -- Even an early three-run deficit and a shaky rookie starter couldnt slow down the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are looking stronger with each win during two impressive streaks.Corey Seager tripled and scored the tiebreaking run on Justin Turners sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to lead the Dodgers to their fifth consecutive victory, 7-5 over the slumping Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.Chase Utley had three hits and drove in two runs for the Dodgers, who have won 10 straight at home after rallying to claim the opener in just Baltimores second regular-season trip to Dodger Stadium. The postgame holiday fireworks show heralded another confident win for the Dodgers, who have won 15 of their last 20.Were playing much better baseball, manager Dave Roberts said. Even when we were down, we felt like we were still in this game.Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal hit back-to-back homers in the second inning for Los Angeles (48-37), which rose to a season-best 11 games over .500.Seager extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a fourth-inning RBI single. His streak is the longest in the NL this season and the third-longest by a rookie in the Dodgers tenure in Los Angeles.The precocious shortstop then hustled for a triple on his drive down the right field line off Odrisamer Despaigne (0-1) in the seventh.It was just good to see us respond, Roberts said. Every time they scored, we answered. Corey is taking the extra base and turning a double into a triple there.J.J. Hardy and Joey Rickard drove in two runs apiece for the AL East-leading Orioles, who have lost five straight.BIG SAVELos Angeles bullpen bailed out teenage rookie starter Julio Urias with 5 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball. Joe Blanton (4-2) pitched the seventh, and Kenley Jansen finished for his 25th save in 28 chances.Urias yielded six hits and five runs while failing to get out of the fourth inning.Urias stayed up with Los Angeles longer than most expected. The return of Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu from injuries likely means the prized Mexican prospect is headed back to the minors for moore seasoning.dddddddddddd Urias is positive about the move.I would obviously love to be here, love to spend the rest of my career here, Urias said through a translator. But Im going to work hard down there and try to come back. I was able to see what I can do (in the majors), and Im very thankful.STRONG STARTBaltimore jumped on Urias for three runs in the second inning, including Hardys two-run double. Rickard then delivered a two-run single in the fourth, briefly putting the Orioles up 5-2.Utley and Seager came through with consecutive RBI singles in the bottom half of the inning against Yovani Gallardo, who yielded six hits and four runs in a four-inning start.I was just falling behind guys, and its hard to pitch like that at this level, Gallardo said. It just cant happen, especially when the guys put some runs up on the board early. Youve got to put up zeros.Los Angeles tied it in the sixth on Utleys RBI single. The Dodgers added an insurance run in the eighth when pinch-hitter Chris Taylor sprinted home from first base on Howie Kendricks double.FREE BIRDBefore the game, a trained bald eagle from the Los Angeles Zoo took the Independence Day spirit literally, flying past its handler in the outfield grass, over the center field fence and out of the stadium. The eagle was located safe and sound.TRAINERS ROOMOrioles: OF Pedro Alvarez went on the bereavement list, and OF Dariel Alvarez was called up from the minors along with LHP Jayson Aquino, who made his major league debut by getting two outs in the eighth.Dodgers: Ryu plans to start for Los Angeles on Thursday against San Diego, completing his arduous return from shoulder problems. He hasnt pitched since the 2014 playoffs, undergoing surgery and numerous setbacks.UP NEXTOrioles: Chris Tillman (10-2, 3.71 ERA) already has twice as many wins as any other Baltimore starter.Dodgers: Kenta Maeda (7-5, 2.82 ERA) has a 2.21 ERA in his last seven starts, allowing opponents to bat just .219. ' ' '