Ilya Topuria and Paddy Pimblett went into action a few days earlier than expected during the fight week of UFC Fight Night 204.
The altercation between the two fighters took place on Tuesday at a host hotel in London ahead of their respective bouts on Saturday, when fists and bottles were thrown. Nothing serious seemed to happen before teams and security separated the two fighters.
“I warned you!” Topuria wrote about this on Instagram, accompanying the video of the quarrel. “That’s what happens when you don’t respect me and my country! You saw me and wanted to greet me because you crap yourself … and you should thank my team, because they did not separate me, I would have blown your head off. @theufcbaddy“
Shortly after, Pimblet responded via Twitter.
“Imagine trying to jump on someone alone with five of your boys and you don’t hit once and the hand sanitizer bottle bounces off your head, you little (clown), don’t try to act like- big like you did something when you (shit) your pants pretend your boys are holding your pussy.”
Topuria (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Pimblett (17-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) have history. They fought online for about a year, and this fight first escalated when Pimblet attacked Georgian militants in online attacks. Topuria was especially upset by Pimblett when the Englishman made fun of the Russo-Georgian War, which resulted in the deaths of many Georgians, including members of Topuria’s family. Pimblett later apologized for his comments.
“My reaction to someone taking it as a joke when a lot of innocent people died in that war — we are talking about children and people who had nothing to do with it,” Topuria told MMA Junkie earlier this week. “For someone to laugh at this, but for me this is also a sore subject, because members of my family and many of my compatriots died in that war. So that’s not something that makes me happy, and that’s where it all started.
“What can I say about someone who makes fun of it? He is an idiot and immature. If he thinks that I will take a step back when I see him, then he is very mistaken. He needs to pray that we don’t cross paths because I’m going to go crazy.”
Pimblett will take on Mexican Rodrigo Vargas in the co-main event of the card, while Topuria will fight Jai Herbert in his first 155-pound fight.