Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria try to fight each other at fighter hotel ahead of UFC London

UFC stars Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria had to be held back after a fight nearly broke out in a London hotel lobby.

The two lightweight prospects have been trash-talking each other on social media for a few months now – but things escalated quickly this week after they crossed paths at the Hilton in Canary Wharf on Tuesday afternoon.

Footage posted by Topuria’s official Twitter account showed the Georgian, 25, having to be restrained by a member of his team after he confronted his rival in the reception of the hotel.

Of course, it wasn’t long before all hell broke loose, as Pimblett can be seen grabbing a bottle of hand sanitizer before hurling it straight at El Matador.

In the clip, Pimblett can be heard saying: “Lad, do you think I’m scared of you?”

A brief scuffle then ensued before the pair’s respective teams managed to separate the two fighters to prevent them from doing any further damage.

The Georgian is heard shouting: “F*** you, b****.”

Check out the video below…

Footage of altercation courtesy of @Topuriailia’s IG. pic.twitter.com/ZqofG4AFss

To which Pimblett replied: “What, lad? Come here! Come here, you little maggot.”

Thankfully it all sort of calmed down before things got too out of hand as the pair ended up going their separate ways.

But the uneasy truce didn’t last long very long at all as they continued to hurl abuse at each other on social media later that night.

Tensions still appeared to be sky high on Tuesday night as Topuria took to Twitter to fire off a warning at Pimblett over his comments he made about Georgia.

He tweeted: “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