By Joe Callaghan, Las Vegas

The self-proclaimed master of mental warfare got physical in Las Vegas last night as Conor McGregor swung a fist at Nate Diaz in a press conference scuffle ahead of the pair's showdown at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.

A fight that has been just 11 days in the making hasn't needed much more time to become incendiary as McGregor and Diaz switched from fighting words to fighting moves in their final UFC 196 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas.

The Californian had been on the receiving end of another verbal lashing throughout the media gathering and strode straight at McGregor when the fighters were asked to square off for the cameras. As his outstretched right fist began to brush up against his rival's chin, the Dubliner unleashed a wild swing of his vaunted left arm and slapped Diaz away.

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That kicked off a brief but wild skirmish as the respective camps - including Diaz's elder brother and fellow MMA veteran Nick - jumped on to the stage at the David Copperfield Theatre. Some may have seen the breakout as an illusion itself, a ruse to sell more pay-per-view buys for a hastily arranged fight.

However the animosity between the pair has been evident throughout this fortnight - and more.

"I'm going to toy with the young boy, I'm going to play with him," said McGregor. "He's very, very predictable. I think the speed, people gave Jose [Aldo] the speed advantage but that was a mistake.

"He's heavy on his right foot but now he's like an injured gazelle. He has a soft flappy body. Man up and be yourself.

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Conor Mcgregor vs Nate Diaz this Saturday #UFC196 pic.twitter.com/V3MSUApLIE

— Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2016

"You're like a gazelle bunched up together and hoping you get spared. Your little gazelle friends are going to look through the cage getting eaten alive and they're going to say 'we're never going to cross this river again'.

"He's talked a lot. There's been subtle digs. But now as the fight approaches he's like a little boy," he said of Diaz, who took the fight on just 11 days notice when Rafael Dos Anjos pulled out of the original headline bout.

"He's trying to pass the limelight - to his brother, to his teammates... That's what a man does when he's scared, he tries to pass it on. Let's see what he's got."

Diaz at one stage was asked by McGregor to 'dance for me...and don't look me in the eye while you're dancing', but he was far from the only one in the featherweight champion's sights as the UFC's poster boy and master salesman again raised his game as another fight week in Sin City ramped up significantly on Thursday.

Having earlier in the day again raised the prospect of a cross-code super fight with Floyd Mayweather, McGregor had his eyes on the giant poster of the retired pound-for-pound king of the ring that graces one side of the MGM Grand's vast facade.

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#MysticMac's Prediction for #UFC196 https://t.co/Lf79rfFqEn

— #UFC196 (@ufc) March 3, 2016

"I might go up there and rip it down myself and what's he going to do about that?" he said. "I'll rip that down after this press conference. I know the people in the MGM are singing, singing all the way to the bank.

"Maybe they should take out that lion statue and put in an Irish lion, put me standing up there. I like Vegas, when I come here I do really, really enjoy Vegas.

"I've buried three bodies clean out here. On Saturday there will be a fourth. The dirt is clean, you can scoop it up easy and bury bodies in there. I will continue to do that."

With UFC president Dana White at the lectern in between McGregor and Diaz as well as fellow headliners Holly Holm and Meisha Tate, it was the Notorious one who remained the centre of attention. In comparison with the chaotic carnivals that kicked off here during his two previous fight weeks, McGregor footsoldiers have been relatively slow pouring into the desert for this bout.

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Would @TheNotoriousMMA prefer a quick fight or a chance to showcase his skills? #UFC196 https://t.co/0wUyHfdPAz

— #UFC196 (@ufc) March 3, 2016

Those who were here on Thursday however were quick to roar their approval as the leading man of mixed martial arts spoke of dragging the UFC even further into the mainstream - with billion-dollar annual revenue his next target.

"One hundred per cent [we can break that mark] and I am that man," McGregor said, having seen his last fights rank among the top three for the organisation last year as it passed $600 million in annual revenue for the first time.

"If you look at the analytics, the evidence, the numbers are all going up. All the channels, all the platforms and the numbers continue to rise. You're damn right I'll hit that billion dollar mark.

"I'm not trying to bigger than nobody. I am with this company and that's it. It got me into the game so to be rising up and to be neck and neck is where we want to be.

"Maybe there'll be a time when I take that lion's share of the pie. But I will be with Zuffa until the day I walk away from the game."