Deaf MMA fighter Thomas Paull has told UFC president Dana White to sign him up to the promotion.
Paull is a current two-weight champion for UK based MMA promotion Golden Ticket. He won the lightweight title for the promotion in March with a brutal knockout of Perry Andre Goodwin in the first round.
The 27-year-old grew up deaf and admits his inability to hear often plagues him during training, but not when he's in the cage. Paull was recently asked about potentially signing for the UFC, in which he told White to text him.
"What's up? Come here, I'm not hiding anywhere, I'm right here," he said in a message White whilst talking with JOE. "I'm waiting for you to call me, no no. Text me," Paull has competed at lightweight and welterweight for his 13 professional fights, so it's unsurprising that he named UFC star Conor McGregor as a dream matchup.
"I'd love to fight Conor McGregor," he said. "The second one would be Paddy Pimblett, because he's from the North and I'm from the South. Come on Paddy, I'll fight you." Paull trains at Team Underground MMA in London but has recently spent time at UFC star Khamzat Chimaev's gym in Sweden.
Paull said he took up MMA to help defend himself against those who bullied him for his hearing: "When I grew up I was drawn to fighting because I was bullied for my hearing," he said.
"That made me more intrigued to learn more about fighting and to fight back so i was involved and not left out, then I took up MMA professional and it's gone from there. It's a disadvantage I can't hear can't hear in training, but when I'm in the ring I'm fully focused. I can definitely fight."
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The only deaf fighter on the UFC roster is top-ranked flyweight Askar Askarov. Paull wants to bump that number up to two and hopes to become the person to blend deaf athletes into mainstream sport whilst doing so.
"While there are deaf role models in sport, they are only known in the deaf community," he continued. "They are never blended into mainstream sport. "We have so much potential in our deaf community and I hope to be the person that can merge the two together. If we are given the chance, it will be bang on. So I'm hoping to be the person to build that."
