Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett has explained why he feels as though he's 'Scouse and not English'.
The UFC star got involved in a bit of a Twitter spat with football fans this week when he revealed that he feels a closer affinity with his city than his country.
In a tongue in cheek post to his account, the 26-year-old shared a video from the summer of former One Director star Louis Tomlinson saying 'it's coming home' during the European Championships.
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He shared the vid with the caption: "But it never came home did it u whopper."
At first glance, it's a fairly innocuous post, but some people didn't take too kindly to the fighter making fun of the England national team's woes.
Commenting on his post, one user asked: "Scouce not English eh?" (sic)
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To which Paddy replied: "Of course, lad, why wud we want it any other way when the rest of the country hates us an talks s*** about us 24/7?"
And as if to prove his point, another user decided to offer their grim 10 pence, writing: "F***ing scouse victim you're English whether you like it or not."
But not one to let a comment like that go, Paddy hit back, saying: "And ppl wonder why we don't want to associate with England fans?"
The remarks go back to the tragic events at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989 when 97 Liverpool fans were killed.
At the time, and in the years since, the police, politicians, newspapers such as The Sun and fans of other teams have blamed Liverpool fans for the disorder at the ground and the sequence of events that led to so many people losing their lives.
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And despite these claims having been proven to be false by the High Court, resentment continues to this day.
Expanding more on his point in response to other, more cordial replies from people, Paddy added: "Lad there's plenty of boss Englishmen but the majority of them hate scousers so why shud I stand shoulder to shoulder an watch England with fans who call us murderers on there on terraces week in week out?"
In an interview with Joe, Paddy talked about what he felt set Scousers apart from the rest of the country when it comes to their sporting prowess.
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He said: "My mum and dad and my nan and grandma and my granddad had to fight for this city to even still be here, lad.
"The government tried to manage decline of my city, lad, so without us being the fighters that we are, most of the cities in the UK wouldn't still be here now.
"But that's just the way Scousers are, lad. It's born and bred into us to be fighters."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy