Guram Kutateladze has reiterated that he will punish Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett if they ever meet in the octagon, and told the UFC signing that careless talk over "religion, family or country" have serious consequences in Georgia.
Asked why he called the cocky Liverpudlian out, Kutateladze told RT.com that he "wants to kill [Pimblett's] hype" as an ex-Cage Warriors champion who has come into his organization declaring himself Dana White's signing of the decade.
But then things got personal when 'Paddy the Baddy' was flagged up for insulting the people of Georgia.
"I just said 'Let me welcome him to the UFC'," Kutateladze explained.
Warning: video contains swearing
"[But] if someone is disrespectful, maybe they should educate themselves or learn how to read. He didn't like someone challenging him and sulked.
"Most of all, I'm surprised at how childish and uneducated he is. I thought he was a more intelligent person but I was very mistaken.
"I don't care about how he talked to me, but the way he talked to my manager was very disrespectful. The words he called him were unacceptable and irresponsible."
Kutateladze won a split decision on his UFC debut against Mateusz Gamrot last year in a fight that Pimblett admitted he had not watched.
The novice called the 29-year-old, who like his friend, rising Chechen-born UFC star Khamzat Chimaev, is based in Sweden, a "fake Russian", but Kutateladze has been particularly incensed by a tweet calling Georgians "stupid" and saying that it is "no wonder" Russians "terrorize" them.
"Then you talk about countries and about war," he said, interpreting the remarks as being "about the Russia vs Georgia war and that Georgian people deserved what happened, that they deserve to die.
"Go to politics and hang your gloves up on the shelf if you want to talk about war. But if you want to talk sh*t, go and freestyle rap instead.
"If you want to fight, though, this is sport. It's about respect and being humble. Then you go into the cage and show what you've got with respect. Whatever happens in there, happens. All of us have our own reasons for that. And that's it.
"You don't have to mix up religion, country, family, war, politics. It's absolutely unnecessary. Again, he's an uneducated, disrespectful, childish kid - as I said before.
"And by deleting tweets, because you get scared or because it was too much. Nothing changes. The words you said, you already said. You can't catch them and put them back in your mouth. You have to take responsibility.
"He could meet someone else, but I'll take it on myself if I meet him. Or it could be some other way [that he gets his comeuppance]. Life can punish you."
Kutateladze would limit his punishment of Pimblett to the cage and has told his countrymen, some of whom have issued crude threats, according to Pimblett, to lay off his new adversary.
"I want to meet him in the cage and do it the right way, by not disrespecting the organization," he insisted.
"I don't want to disrespect myself by slapping that kid, you know? But in the cage, I hope one day we're gonna meet and I'll do whatever I have to do with him."
"He realized that he did wrong. That's why he deleted [the tweet]. I don't want to create an international war. I don't want Georgian people to start insulting the kid's country or his family because this has nothing to do with the sport.
Also on rt.com ‘I’ll punish him for saying Georgians deserve to die’: Guram Kutateladze declares war on UFC newcomer Pimblett"It's very unprofessional and inhumane to write things on the internet when you don't see the person face-to-face and don't look them in the eye. Come on, are you 12 years old or something, or do you have nuts for brains? Come on."
Kutateladze moved on to cultural differences between their respective regions. "In one of his tweets, he said that in Liverpool you throw words back and forth...to get on each other's nerves, to make each other angry.
"Where I'm from, in my country, in Georgia, in Chechnya, Dagestan... it doesn't work like that. You don't throw words back and forth. That means your word isn't worth anything. If you say something, you pay for it."
"And I'm sorry if I'm honest and brutal with you. But if you say something about religion, family or country [where I'm from], nobody is going to say this and that about your mother.
"They're going to stab you or shoot you. You understand? If they don't do that, they're going to beat the s**t out of you.
"That's why I said, 'let this kid be'. He doesn't understand what he's saying. But he's going to get punished. One day he's going to get punished.
"Hopefully, it'll be from me. From my hand or leg, whatever. Or maybe not. God doesn't leave these kind of people [alone who are] saying that people deserve to die. Karma, whatever you want to call it [will get him]."
This aside, Kutateladze wishes Pimblett no harm out in the open, in everyday life, but can't guarantee that hotter heads will be able to control themselves while "crazy people are everywhere".
Pimblett has remarked that he would find the featherweight ranks easier to clear out than Kutateladze's lightweight division, but the Georgian won't lose any sleep over a meeting not materializing any time soon.
Also on rt.com ‘No one’s going to punish me’: UFC novice Pimblett insists he ‘doesn’t care’ about death threats from Georgians over social media"If you take our skillset wherever you want to take it, skill-wise I'm at a very much higher level," he said. "I'm a higher level striker, wrestler, grappler. But if it doesn't happen now, it's gonna happen someday.
"[If] he thinks it's easier there, let him search for an easier way. He'd better suffer with his weight cut and go down there and hide from lightweights. He still doesn't know what he wants or where he wants to fight.
"If it's featherweight, let him fight at featherweight. But there are my Georgian brothers who are going to take care of him there.
"We are everywhere. Georgians are everywhere. Even for a small country... there are only three million of us, but we are there where we need to be."