Zoltan Bathory is the guitarist for the renowned band Five Finger Death Punch. However, he is also a jiu-jitsu artist and is a part of the renowned Gracie family.
Bathory recently found himself at the center of a peculiar situation when a podcaster launched a verbal assault on him on a podcast. The podcaster challenging him to a physical brawl driven by his criticisms of the band.
Zoltan talked about the situation in an interview with MMA Mania: “So somebody just sent me an audio snippet of some podcaster guy, right? It’s a couple of years old, but somebody found it and sent it to me. And it’s a podcast you know, typical you know hater, whatever. Don’t like the band, cool whatever. Move on, right?”
“But you know he likes hating on me, and in this podcast the guy actually challenged me, right? So he’s like, he was talking about something like ‘Yeah man, you know these guys are thinking like you know they’re tough dudes’ and because I always think about American freedom and you know freedom of speech and how important it is coming from somewhere where I didn’t have that growing up, right?”
Zoltan then contemplates if he should actually face this guy and turn it into a pay-per-view MMA charity event. The proceeds of the event would then go to an nti-bullying charity.
He said: “So this guy kind of like you know like, ‘oh I can say anything too then I will challenge you motherf**ker…’ He’s talking about like ‘I challenge you, you named the place and the time, and I’ll beat you down as many times I need to.’ And I’m thinking, dude this guy has no idea who he’s talking to. Like there’s no way you would have said that if you actually you know had a clue. So I’m thinking you know I might just [give you] the place and time for you you know… You know I’m thinking maybe make it a pay-per-view event.”
“There are two guys on a podcast, I challenge you both in the same time. MMA rules cage fight… both of you in the same time. Put on a good price that goes to charity for anti-bullying. And I throw in a free wheelchair for both of you because you will need it.”
Zoltan says that the podcaster’s words could hurt a depressed person who felt hopeless. By setting up the match, Bathory wants the bully to take accountability for his words.
“How many suicides we have, right? You don’t know that I’m a broken low soul, you don’t know that, right? So you’re talking mad s**t about me, right? And challenging me and basically threatening me online, right? What if I was some free little guy and now my feelings got hurt…. something horrible you don’t know that. We have people that we lost, you know. Artists, actors, musicians, you know that we lost to this, right? So this is this is a serious thing. You don’t know anybody’s mindset, right?”
The guitarist expressed his disdain for bullying, particularly when it comes from the shadows of anonymity online.
He went on to say: “I always view the online bullying as pretty disgusting because number one, it’s not face to face. You will never say that in my face… and number two is like you don’t know who you’re dealing with. You don’t know their background. You don’t know what’s their circumstance is, right? What you just said to somebody could be the last drop in a really tall cup that just filled. And this person might even take their own life. You don’t know that. So when you’re talking to somebody, you’re insulting somebody, going after bullying somebody online, I take it as a serious offense.”
Zoltan’s proposed charity event is not just about settling a personal score; it’s about taking a stand against the pervasive issue of online bullying. By turning a potentially negative situation into a platform for raising awareness and funds for anti-bullying initiatives, Zoltan aims to shine a light on the consequences of words thrown carelessly across the internet.