Paddy Pimblett continued his meteoric rise through the UFC with another comfortable victory at UFC London over Jordan Leavitt.
He forced his opponent to submit in the second round to make it a double for Liverpool in the capital as Molly McCann secured victory over Hannah Goldy with a brutal spinning elbow in the opening round.
The Baddy went viral on Saturday night for his post-fight interview in the Octagon where he opened up about the importance of mental health, in particular in men, revealing his own personal heartbreak.
Scouse fighter Pimblett revealed that a close friend of his had committed suicide just before his fight, finding out on the morning of the weigh-in in the early hours of the morning.
Clearly emotional, he preached the importance of talking and opening up rather than struggling on your own. Rightfully so, he received plenty of praise for his words, using the major platform to deliver a vitally important message.
Then in his backstage post-fight interview, he went into more depth on his message. He claimed he had to stay strong for his friends who were also affected by the tragedy whilst admitting they were mentally burned out compared to him as he could focus on his fight.
He then said: âIâm doing it to get in there, to win my fight and to spread a message. Men donât talk enough, women can just go and talk but men donât, men have got this stigma where if I talk like that Iâm a weak man.
Muhammad Mokaev thinks Paddy Pimblett is a bad influence on the younger generation
âYouâre not weak, youâre stronger than anyone if you can go and talk to your mate and say lad this is affecting me, youâre stronger than anyone, I donât care what anyone says.
âPeople think bottling stuff up, bottling stuff up makes it better, Iâve been there, when I lost on Cage Warriors years ago and I broke my hand again and I thought, my god Iâve turned the UFC down twice, Iâm never going to get into the UFC.
âFor about three, four months I was waking up crying every morning and Iâll be honest, if I had the bottle I probably wouldnât be here now, I would have done something drastic. You canât make a split second decision that will end everything, youâve got to think about things.
âOne thing Iâll always say is you got to get it off your chest, thatâs something I did. I eventually spoke to someone and as soon as you speak to someone it feels like a weightâs been lifted off your shoulders, literally thatâs what it was like for me.
âI spoke to another friend, then another, I spoke to my dad, I spoke to my fiancé and I spoke to my coach and it got better and I know that my friend Ricky never felt he could talk to anyone without being called a little girl and thatâs what we need to get rid of.â
What a powerful message, well done, Paddy.