New UFC signing Paddy Pimblett is already creating enmity between himself and other fighters in the promotion because of allegedly xenophobic comments he made.
The 26-year-old Liverpoolian joined UFC after a successful stint at Cage Warriors, where he won the featherweight championship.
Georgians heavily criticized 'The Baddy' after he wrote a tweet that was considered offensive by many as he trash-talked UFC fighter Guram Kutateladze. The tweet has since been deleted, but it read:
"Lad, how stupid are these Georgians, man. No wonder the Russians terrorize their lives."
UFC Women's Featherweight Liana Jojua, from Georgia, criticized Paddy Pimblett for his inappropriate comments over her motherland.
"If this guy thinks that this is somehow funny or appropriate, then I don't know what to say. My grandparents, just like a lot of other innocent people, were killed during the war. I feel ashamed that this kind of people represents our sport," said Jojua.
Paddy Pimblett defended himself from the allegations, claiming that he was unaware of the violent history that the two former Soviet republics share in common.
"I'm not being racist to Georgians at all, man. Jesus Christ, everybody is a snowflake nowadays," said Paddy Pimblett.
"Lad, I didn't even know that! I just thought that Guram dude looked like a poor man's Khabib. So [I] called him a fake Russian. I literally had no idea they took offense to it, then they all went mad," he added.
The Russo-Georgian is a complicated political, cultural, ethnic, and geographical conflict that has had several developments over the last hundreds of years.
The most modern struggle was an armed dispute in 2008 that involved the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and lasted only 12 days.
After the intense backlash from Georgians on social media, Paddy Pimblett came forward to issue apologies for his comments regarding the country situated in the Caucasus.
"I would like the Georgian people to understand that I had no idea about the history between Georgia and Russia. I'm a fighter, not a historian or politician. I didn't know what had gone. The people seem to think I said it with malice when I had no idea of the past," said Pimblett.
Liana Jojua recognized Pimblett's efforts to make peace and decided to forgive him for his improper comments on Georgia.
"It's very easy to tweet something stupid and then delete it the moment your *ss gets burned. However, it takes real courage to publicly apologize to the people you have offended just because you wanted to get under somebody's skin, Paddy Pimblett," wrote Jojua.