These are deeply stupid times we’re living in, friends, but every once in a while, if you squint just right and don’t overthink it too much, they are also unintentionally hilarious.

How else are we supposed to describe the scene between new UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and top contender Colby Covington over the weekend? What are we supposed to do with two professional fighters pushing and shoving each other in what appears to be the line for the casino buffet if not throw our heads back and laugh at the absurdity of it all?

I mean, you’ve seen the video, right? You’ve got Covington standing there amid all the tourist moms and dads, all the kids and the old ladies and the bargain-hungry rubes that populate any Vegas casino. You’ve got Usman and his entourage, including his manager Ali Abdelaziz, pushing and shoving to get at Covington, who is the only person who seems to be on the verge of enjoying the spectacle amid the screams.

Imagine being just another bystander on vacation who knows nothing of who these people are and why they’re mad at one another. You’re standing there in your cargo shorts and your flip-flops mentally prepping your plan of attack at the buffet when this melee erupts. Imagine the mixture of surprise and disgust and vague pity you’d feel once someone explained that these guys are actually professional fighters at the top of their field.

They get paid to do this? Seriously? How can that be true, when they are on the casino floor doing it for free, and with all the grace and poise of middle schoolers at the bus stop?

Of course, to really help you understand the scene you’d need a lot more backstory. Someone would have to tell you about Covington’s whole gimmick, which mostly involves acting like an internet comment section come to life.

Then they’d have to tell you about Usman, who spent the previous night steamrolling the reigning champion before sharing a touching moment with his daughter on TV, only to turn around and imperil other people’s kids with this mess the very next day.

They’d definitely have to spare a chapter of this story for Abdelaziz, a tumor on this sport who’s supposed to be managing Usman’s career, but on the video comes across as the person least capable of managing himself.

And this is all for what, exactly? Because they’re mad that Covington showed up at the UFC 235 open workouts with his outdated belt and his mini-megaphone? Or they’re still annoyed that he was sitting cageside in his homemade “People’s Champ” T-shirt, running his mouth during Usman’s big moment?

It’s as if they don’t realize what a gift Covington is for a new champion like Usman. Right off the bat you have a clear challenger for your new belt, and one whom fans desperately want to see get beaten up. Don’t tell me you’re going to screw that up or squander that goodwill for a few cheap shots next to the prime rib carving station.

Covington has struck a certain kind of bargain for himself, and you get the sense that he’s not always sure it’s worth it. By playing the role of the obnoxious oaf, he’s seized a sliver of our attention. He’s not performing the part particularly well, but somehow that only adds to its overall revulsion quotient. His whole schtick is so bad and dumb that you almost can’t help but long for a front-row seat to its destruction.

All of which is to say, he makes us care, at least a little bit, even if we hate both him and ourselves for being so predictably reeled in.

The flip side is that he also makes people mad, and some of those people just don’t seem to have a sense of humor about it. The problem with acting like an internet troll in real life is that people can see you. If they happen to be holding a boomerang at the moment, they can even reach out and touch you. Next thing you know you can’t even enjoy the buffet in peace without someone wanting to hold you accountable for the things you said when you were on the job.

The real question is whether a buffet line shoving contest is an embarrassment too far even for the UFC. When Conor McGregor threw a hand truck through a bus window it was practically a no-brainer to repurpose the footage as a pre-fight promo package. Will the TMZ clip of Usman and Co. teaming up on Covington meet with the same fate?

For a debacle this dumb, it almost seems like it would be dishonest to leave it out.

For complete coverage of UFC 235, check out the UFC Events section of the site.