WATCH: Khamzat Chimaev kicks Sean Strickland during chaotic face off at UFC 328 press conference

Good luck keeping Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland apart before UFC 328. Even with police, extra security and UFC CEO Dana White present, the rivals still got physical at Thursday's press conference face-off.

The UFC 328 pre-fight press conference was complete mayhem. The promotion wisely limited the participation to the main and co-main event athletes. That put all the spotlight on Strickland and Chimaev, who traded barbs for almost the entire 30-minute run time. They hurled insults, talked over each other and claimed supremacy over their infamous sparring sessions.

Amid the heated conversation, White was asked if he'd let the headliners face off.

"Absolutely," the UFC president replied. 

Chimaev and Strickland walked towards the center stage at the conclusion of the press conference. Police and security personnel were on high alert. White, standing between them, urged both men to "be good." 

"I'm not going to touch you," Chimaev told Strickland.

The UFC middleweight champion immediately contradicted himself and ignored White's directive by kicking Strickland. Security quickly intervened, separating both men. Strickland was clearly heated, aggressively framing off a security member's face in an attempt to break free. 

"Exactly what I expected a coward to do," Strickland wrote on social media afterwards.

"I haven't had a press conference like that in a very long time," White said on Friday in reaction. "It's always exciting and interesting, funny and not funny when you have guys who dislike each other as much as these two do. We had it completely covered and if you see, I was holding [Chimaev's] arms the whole time and he got me with the kick. I didn't see the kick coming. It bums me out. I hate when I miss those and I believe that if I had one last guy on that stage, we wouldn't have had enough people. I think we had just enough people to stop that thing."