14 November 2023 , 17:22
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Paddy Pimblett no longer runs his own social media accounts after receiving death threats online.
'The Baddy' is currently preparing for his UFC return against Tony Ferguson at the promotion's final pay-per-view of the year in Las Vegas next month. Pimblett fell victim to a huge amount of backlash after controversially beating Jared Gordon in their fight last December, as many fans think the Scouser shouldn't have been awarded the decision win.
Pimblett broke his ankle in the opening round of the fight and has been sidelined ever since. "The last year has been quite hard to be honest, the amount of people that have just been giving me hell online. I've been getting told by people to take my own life, it's rough. Obviously all the nasty comments online get to you, but you've got to try and not let them get to you," he told Sky Sports.
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"I'm trying to be a mental health advocate and tell people to speak out about things, then I've got people commenting on my posts telling me to kill myself. I don't sign into my social media anymore, I have other people running it. I send them what to put up, I can't be signing into it anymore. I've had to take a step back from social media."
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Pimblett broke down in tears after his UFC London win last July and delivered a heartfelt speech to raise awareness about mental health. The fighter's emotional interview accumulated millions of views online and his inspiring words encouraged men from around the world to speak out and express their feelings.
'The Baddy' explained why he thinks the same people giving him hate will soon be his fans after his upcoming fight. "MMA fans are fickle, when I beat Tony Ferguson everybody will jump back on the bandwagon. I was the low-hanging fruit and it was easy to jump on the hate bandwagon at the time. You've got to take the bad with the good, that's just the way it is," he added.
"In this sport we only get judged on our last performance. It doesn't matter that in my first three UFC fights I got finishes within the first two rounds, people just judge me on my last performance. The amount of times I've been told I lost that fight even though the only people that matter scored it for me, the three judges."