MOVIE tough guy Mickey Rourke has challenged a rapper who claimed Tupac Shakur shot himself in a panic to a one-on-one showdown.

The star of The Wrestler and The Expendables has hit out a Funkmaster Flex for claiming his showbiz pal lied about the injuries he received in the infamous shoot-out at the Quad studios.

5 Rourke claims he was with Tupac after he was shot Credit: Getty Images

5 Funkmaster Flex claimed Tupac shot himself in a panic Credit: Getty Images - WireImage

Rourke and Tupac were great friends back in the day to the point that Rourke says: “He was there for me during some very hard times.”

And even though it’s been more than 20 years since Tupac’s gangland death, former boxer Rourke is clearly still in the rapper's corner.

The Sun Online told how Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex went on Instagram Live to speak candidly about the notorious night Tupac was hit in the leg at Quad Studios on 30 November 1994.

5 Credit: Getty Images - WireImage

Former boxer Rourke knows how to handle himself on and off screenHe went on to claim Tupac shot HIMSELF during the infamous failed hit - inadvertently 'fuelling the gang war' which left both the rapper and rival Biggie Smalls dead.

Now Rourke has hit back saying he even knows the locations of the wounds, revealing he was there in the hospital with Tupac and his mother.

Now he's thrown the gauntlet down to Flex.

“Tell him come see me to my face,” Rourke told TMZ .

“If you want to talk about my brother when he’s not here. You tell any mother f***er on the planet, he got any s*** to talk about Tupac, come look me up. OK?

"Come look me up any mother f***ing time. If you want to talk about Tupac when he ain't here, come look my a** up.

"If anybody wanna talk s*** about him, come talk to Mickey Rourke to my face. Alright? Any f***inh time. Any time. I don’t care if he’s nine-foot-f***ing tall.”

5 Tupac Shakur is helped out of court in a wheelchair the day after his shooting Credit: Getty Images

5 Rappers Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur were once close friends Credit: Rex Features

According to outspoken Flex, the West coast rap legend shot himself in a panic that night - then later pinned the attack on his deadly rivals.

Biggie and Puff were in the same building the night and the shooting would be key in sparking the brutal East Coast-West Coast beef.

The deadly feud lasted from 1991 to 1997 and involved artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States.

“You Pac fans always talking that talk,” Flex said.

“Cheddar Bob. Came in there, popped himself in the leg. Popped himself first. That’s what happened.”

Flex continued: “He knew who approached him. He had a steel (a gun) on him, ’cause he knew he had a issue out there.

"When they (Tupac's rivals) got there, they was just gonna take his jewellery.

"They didn’t even touch him. He panicked, pulled out the steel, shot himself.”

Later the radio presenter took to Twitter to say Tupac's lies had cost lives.

“They did not know the assailants were going to be shooting. In fact, [the assailants] were told no shooting. But Tupac pulled a gun, and it went haywire.

"It was supposed to be a severe beating.

Tupac was allegedly shot dead in an apparent drive-by shooting in Las Vegas at the age of 25.

Police reports stated the star was fired at multiple times and died on 13 September 1996.

He had been at the Mike Tyson vs Bruce Sheldon boxing match and reportedly had his own fight with gang member Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

A car allegedly pulled up alongside his while he was standing with his head out of the sunroof and someone shot him multiple times – including the chest, pelvis, right hand, thigh and lung, reports claim.

Biggie “Notorious B.I.G” Smalls was also allegedly shot dead in March 1997 with some claiming it was a revenge hit for Tupac's death.

Both of their murders remain a mystery today.