St. Louis Player Launches Opponent's Helmet To The Moon As Fists Fly During Nasty, Bench-Clearing XFL Brawl

Sunday's XFL game between the St. Louis Battlehawks and D.C. Defenders turned ugly in a hurry. It had been chippy all afternoon, but tempers boiled over in the closing minute and an all-out brawl ensued.

After St. Louis scored to cut their deficit to six, they decided to try the XFL alternative to an onside kick— the make-it-take-it option. They had one, untimed down to gain 15 yards.

Quarterback A.J. McCarron dropped back in the pocket and was sacked. In that moment, all hell broke loose.

Players from both teams converged on each other and started pushing, shoving, punching and scratching. It was not just a little scuffle. It was a full-blown melee with haymakers flying.

Although the exact origin is unclear, it appeared as though things really ramped up when one of the St. Louis players ended up at the bottom of a pile of D.C. players. They were not happy with something that went on and were giving the downed player the business.

As could be expected, that led the situation to escalate and both benches cleared.

Amidst the mayhem, one Battlehawks player picked up an opponent's helmet and launched it to the moon. You can see the helmet fly across the screen at the 16-second mark in the video below.

Here are two alternate looks at the aftermath, once the two sides had already converged on each other:

In the end, two D.C. players were ejected, one for picking up a penalty flag and throwing it back. As was the St. Louis player who threw the helmet.

To make things even more awkward, if the travel plans remain the same as they were a week ago, both teams have to get on the same plane back to XFL headquarters in Dallas.

The third edition of the XFL has seen a lot of close games, including a Josh Gordon walk-off touchdown, but it was the fight that stole headlines away from a one-score game on Sunday. Now the Battlehawks and Defenders will have to fly home together. Yikes!