UFC star calls out Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg in bizarre speech

UFC fan favourite Paddy Pimblett called out Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg in a bizarre post-match speech after his latest win.

Paddy Pimblett called out Mark Zuckerberg after his latest win.

UFC cult hero Paddy Pimblett has called out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an bizarre speech following his latest win.

The Englishman enhanced his star power in the lightweight division with a superb submission victory over Rodrigo Vargas at UFC London on Sunday (AEDT).

Watch UFC 273: Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie LIVE on Main Event available on Kayo & Foxtel, Sunday 10th April from 12pm AEST. ORDER NOW >

Pimblett got Vargas in a rear-naked choke in the first round and the Mexican was forced to tap out, handing Pimblett the 18th win of his MMA career.

The 27-year-old celebrated the victory by dancing around the octagon in a trademark shimmy.

When asked immediately after the fight who he’d like to take on next, Pimblett surprisingly singled out Zuckerberg.

“Who do I want to fight? Mark Zuckerberg,” he said.

“Lad I’m going to punch your head him. 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.”

Paddy the Baddy said he wants his next fight to be against... Mark Zuckerberg and then breaks into a chorus of Justice for the 97. He's a rockstar

— Ed Malyon (@eaamalyon) March 19, 2022

Pimblett calls out Mark Zuckerberg in his postfight interview. OK then.

— Nick Baldwin (@NickBaldwinMMA) March 19, 2022

It wasn’t the first time Pimblett had criticised Zuckerberg for disabling his social media accounts.

“The hypocritical nature of Instagram and Facebook is just disgusting, and what they get away with,” he said at his pre-fight press conference.

Paddy Pimblett called out Mark Zuckerberg after his latest win.

“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.

“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 120,000 followers. I’ve lost out on so much money and sponsorships over the past two weeks, three weeks.”

Pimblett has quickly become a UFC fan favourite thanks to his personality, thick Liverpool accent and his bowl cut that gives him an eerie resemblance to the character Jay from The Inbetweeners.

After the win over Vargas, he demolished an entire pizza during the post-fight press conference.

“I’d rather be fat and happy than ripped,” he said.

“These people who are ripped all year round are not happy, I don’t care what they say.

“This six-pack is sound, I look great but I’d rather be fat and happy.”

Paddy Pimblett celebrates defeating Kazula Vargas at UFC London with his trademark shimmy. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

It was the first time UFC president Dana White had seen Pimblett fight in person and he quickly realised he has a genuine superstar on his hands.

“This week I was getting tired of hearing, ‘Oh, wait til you see his walkout, wait til you see this and that.’,” White said.

“I was like, I want to see him fight. He needs to win, you know?

“But he did, and he did spectacularly. And when he was in trouble, he came back and he turned the fight around and won.

“I’ll give you an example: On my Instagram, I posted the face-offs yesterday for the heavyweight fight — (it) did 120,000 views. Paddy’s face-off did 1.3 million.

“So all the talk going into the fight about his walkout and all this s***, listen, it’s real.

“This kid’s got a ton of hype behind him and tonight he showed everybody that he’s the real deal.”

Originally published as UFC star calls out Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg in bizarre speech