After defeating Rodrigo Vargas at UFC London, UFC lightweight fighter Paddy Pimblett caused a stir by saying that he wants to fight Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckeberg.
Pimblett won his fight in the first round by rear naked choke division with a submission.
After tapping out Vargas, Pimblett went on to celebrate inside of the Octagon. When he was asked in his post-fight interview who he wanted to fight next, Pimblett shocked the audience by responding, “Who do I want to fight? Mark Zuckerberg.”
Pimblett’s outburst against the Big Tech magnate was largely due to his Instagram account getting taken down. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, also owns Instagram.
“Lad I’m going to punch your head. I’m sick of you lad, you know what I mean. I’m sick of you shutting my Instagram accounts down when all I do is help charities and help people with mental health problems. You’re the biggest bully in the world lad,” Pimblett declared.
Pimblett has been a frequent critic of Facebook and its heavy-handed policies towards his social media accounts.
“The hypocritical nature of Instagram and Facebook is just disgusting, and what they get away with,” he declared during his pre-fight press conference.
“It kills me. Mark Zuckerberg’s a lizard. I like helping people and my social media gives me a chance to help people. I’m not one of them where it’s just all about me. I feel the need to help people, especially because of the platform I’ve got and my social media does that,” Pimblett added.
“I’ve got to be a lot smarter on my social media, because as you know, I’ve had two accounts took off me now, and the second account had 1,20,000 followers. I’ve lost out on so much money and sponsorships over the past two weeks, three weeks,” the UFC lightweight fighter said.
Pimblettt has amassed a career record of 18-3. So far, Pimblett has a 2-0 record in the UFC. His fights have both ended in first round finishes, with him defeating Luigi Vendramini by technical knockout in his UFC debut.
The majority of his career wins have come via finishes (14). He has recorded 8 wins via submission and 6 wins via knockout. Pimblett has also won championship titles in the promotions Full Contact Contender and Cage Warriors Fighting Championship as a featherweight.
The lightweight fighter has built a strong personal brand through his vibrant personality and thick Liverpool (Scouse) accent. On Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, he has 307,000, 569,000, and 119,000 followers respectively. At 27 years of age, he’s viewed as one of the top prospects in the UFC.
