Jimmy Kimmel addressed last year's Oscars slap during his opening monologue -- and he did it just like most everyone thought he would ... with a joke and a jab, and a warning.

The 3-time host was back Sunday to take on MC duties, and his remarks at the top of show did not dodge the elephant in the room. It took a while for JK to get to the slap -- sprinkling in shots at A LOT of other stars beforehand -- but when he did ... he went in.

Watch ... Jimmy made fun of showrunners from 2022 -- saying they had a crisis team in place tonight, but noted that if anything did happen ... he expected them to do what they did last year ... absolutely nothing. He even joked that if anyone did assault someone else this time, they'd be awarded Best Actor, given a stage for a speech and a hug to boot.

He also made sure to mention that they want people to feel safe, and that no violence would be accepted ... then roping in a ton of stars into possible protection he might have to activate if anyone tried going after him for a joke they didn't like. He name-dropped Michelle Yeoh, Michael B. Jordan, Andrew Garfield, Pedro Pascal, Steven Spielberg and others as people any would-be assailant would have to get through if they want to rumble on stage.

A little earlier in the monologue, Kimmel appeared to again reference the slap while talking about all the Irish actors nominated this year ... joking there could be another fight.

The whole gag got a lot of laughs and seemed to be well-received. He never said Will or Chris' name -- but really didn't need to ... he made his point and did it in stride and comedy.

All things considered, it was a good bit ... and hopefully it puts the whole matter to bed.

Here's hoping everyone takes Jimmy up on his caution and keeps their hands to themselves for the rest of the night. The focus of the broadcast should be movies ... not battles.