Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett -- two rising stars in the UFC -- threw punches and bottles in a wild hotel lobby altercation ... and it was all over an offensive tweet.
The skirmish went down just days before UFC Fight Night in London ... where Topuria is slated to fight Jai Herbert, and Pimblett is set to face off against Rodrigo Vargas.
But it was Topuria vs. Pimblett on Tuesday ... as the 11-0 Georgian fighter confronted him for crossing the line in a Twitter exchange last year.
The video is pretty nuts -- Topuria walks right up to 17-3 Pimblett and appears to either throw an object or swipe at him. In response, Paddy throws a bottle.
The two then throw punches ... but nothing seems to connect before Ilia is pulled away by his team.
FYI -- "The Baddy" was called out for tweeting "Lad how stupid are these Georgians man ... no wonder the Russians terrorize their lives" in April of last year.
Paddy later deleted the tweet and apologized ... but it's clear Topuria hasn't forgotten about it, nor has he forgiven the 27-year-old.
Topuria, 25, posted the quick altercation on Instagram just minutes ago ... saying, "I warned you! This is what happens when you disrespect me and my country!"
"You saw me and wanted to greet me because you s*** 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!"