It’s hard to take him seriously at all.
Paddy Pimblett became the de facto face of men’s mental health after his second-round win over American fighter Jordan Leavitt, largely thanks to his post-fight speech about the passing of his friend.
It was a powerful moment in the world of MMA that made its way to the mainstream, and it was objectively a very good thing to see so many people sharing the message of kindness that Pimblett conveyed.
But it rings more and more hollow with every offensive thing that comes out of the Liverpool man’s mouth.
He has a disappointing history of racist and xenophobic tweets, criticising the Conservative Party in one breath and insisting there are too many immigrants in England in the next.
He caused outrage among Georgian people by insisting that they are a “stupid” country, and that it’s no surprise that Russians “terrorise their lives”. This was seemingly a reference to the Russo-Georgian war.
Pimblett apologised, to his credit, but he definitely didn’t learn his lesson when it comes to thinking before he tweets. He has continued to do this sort of thing, and doesn’t look likely to stop.
Paddy Pimblett continues to cause controversy
Most recently, he referred to German-born German-Spanish Ilia Topuria as a “mongrel”, the definition of which is “a dog of no definable type or breed”.
This came as Pimblett kept insisting that Topuria “speak English”, and not “German or Spanish, like you’re from”. This has led to people accusing the fighter of racism, and not for the first time.
There is every chance that Pimblett was not trying to be racist by using the word mongrel, as it is an insult that is thrown around a bit in certain corners of the world, but with his history he should really be more careful.
The reason Topuria was so riled up was due to comments made about his country, so referring to him as a mongrel while insisting he speaks English is obviously a bad look.
He has quite a big following at this point, and it is growing by the day, largely due to his honesty when it comes to his own mental health.
With a big platform comes responsibility, and while he may just chalk it down to thrash talk, it is truly ridiculous to be preaching about opening up in one breath and spouting hateful slurs in the next.
Pimblett can continue to speak well about mental health, and ending the stigma, as much as he wants. But if he doesn’t stop his deeply offensive comments about other countries and immigrants, it will always ring hollow.
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