Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria get into a scuffle following online jibes

UFC lightweight prospect Paddy Pimblett got into a shoving match prior to his scheduled bout at UFC London in Liverpool. The altercation happened between Pimblett and UFC featherweigh Ilia Topuria.

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett is scheduled to fight Rodrigo Vargas at UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19 at The O2 Arena in London. Liverpool born, Pimblett is over the moon excited to fight in his home country. However, a few days prior to his fight, the 27-year-old got confronted by Ilia Topuria in the hotel lobby.

Ilia Topuria is a German born Georgian and is also scheduled to fight at the event. He is scheduled to have a bout against Jai Herbert. Topuria is currently undefeated with an MMA record consisting of 11 wins and no losses.

According to reports Topuria brought some friends along with him and approached Pimblett. The 25-year-old Georgian didn’t appreciate Pimblett’s comments about Georgia. In a now-deleted tweet, Pimblett made fun of the Russo-Georgian War that killed many Georgians. It was a year ago and the two have been beefing since then.

“Lad, how stupid are these Georgians man? No wonder the Russian terrorize their lives.” Pimblett wrote with laughing emoji.

One commenter noted: “If this guys thinks that this is somehow funny or appropriate then I don’t know what to say. My grandparents just like a lot of other innocent people were killed during the war. I feel ashamed that this kind of people represent our sport.”

All things considered the scuffle left no marks – no punches were delivered and at worst water bottles were thrown. Topuria’s team reportedly separated them.

If things actually got physical the likelihood of two fighting on the card this weekend would’ve drastically dropped.

Soon after that, the two took to their social media to talk about the fight. Ilia Topuria posted the video footage to his Twitter account. He said Pimblett was lucky his team was there to stop the fight.

“I warned you! This is what happens when you disrespect me and my country! You saw me and wanted to greet me because you shit your pants… and you should thank my team because if it wasn’t for them separating me, I would have taken your head off. This is not twitter, this is real life!” Topuria wrote in the caption.

Responding to this Tweet, Pimblett made fun of Topuria for not being able to land a punch during the altercation.

“Imagine trying to jump someone on their own with 5 of your boys & you don’t land a single shot & get a bottle of hand sanitizer bounced off your head. you little [clown]. don’t try to act big like you did something when you [sh*t] your pants pretending your boys was holding u back, p*ssy.” Pimblett retweeted.