Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

UFC star Paddy Pimblett hails Dundee tribute to his post-fight speech about men’s mental health

The mural of Paddy Pimblett by Dundee artist Syke.
The mural of Paddy Pimblett by Dundee artist Syke.

UFC star Paddy Pimblett says he got “goosebumps” after seeing a Dundee mural inspired by a post-fight speech he gave about men’s mental health.

Pimblett revealed he learned a friend had taken his own life ahead of his latest outing on Saturday.

The Liverpudlian urged men not to suffer in silence in a heartfelt interview after his victory over American Jordan Leavitt at London’s O2 Arena.

Dundee artist’s mural shared with 1.4m followers

Videos of the speech went viral as hundreds of thousands of people offered their support to the 27-year-old.

Following that, Dundee artist Symon Mathieson – better known as Syke – paid tribute to his plea with a mural in an underpass at Monymusk Park in Dundee.

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ then shared a picture of it with his 1.4 million Instagram followers.

The post has since been liked nearly 200,000 times.

I’ve lost people to suicide and saw what Paddy said after his fight, and it connected with me

Syke told The Courier he was happy to see his work being shared but “it’s his message that’s more important”.

He said: “It’s extremely important for people in the public eye to highlight mental health issues, as they are looked up to by the younger generation the have more of an influence and reach.

“I’ve lost people to suicide and saw what Paddy said after his fight, and it connected with me.

Artist Symon Mathieson – better known as Syke.

“Then I was contacted by a supporter of Andy’s Man Club suggesting it would be good to have it painted somewhere.

“Feedback from the piece has been insane. I’ve had a couple of discussions with people I don’t know on my social media since, who say they don’t feel like talking helps; along with my followers I’ve tried to send those people in the right direction to get help.”

What did Paddy Pimblett say after bout?

In his now iconic speech, Pimblett said: “I want to dedicate this fight to little baby Lee, the little warrior. More of a fighter than any of us will ever be.

“But also, I woke up on Friday morning at 4am to a message that one my friends back home had killed themselves. This was five hours before my weigh-in.

“So Ricky lad, that’s for you. There’s a stigma in this world that men can’t talk.

“Listen, if you’re a man and you’ve got weight on your shoulders and you think the only way you can solve it is by killing yourself, please speak to someone.

“Speak to anyone. I know I would rather have my mate cry on my shoulder than go to his funeral next week. So please, let’s get rid of this stigma. Men start talking.”

Fans of Syke have posted their praise for the artwork online.

One person wrote: “Wow amazing as always, probably could do with a few more around our city.”

Another said: “Brilliant work, I didn’t know who this guy was [until] I seen this, Paddy is a hero of mine now.”

Conversation