“No John Pork, Chan-co!” a frustrated Magomed Zaynukov corrected the fans flooding his comments with the human-pig hybrid’s name. All to no avail, ‘Wild Chanco’ has become the forefront of the John Pork lore in the world of UFC. Gathering millions of views, edits constantly morph the Muay Thai specialist into the absurdist figure. And ‘Mighty Mouse’ Demetrious Johnson might have one of the biggest roles in turning the meme viral.

When the flyweight came to film a training session with UFC 322 headliner Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev introduced his Muay Thai training partner to Johnson. And that’s where the lore began. Nights later, and the Dagestani champion hiding behind the shadows came into the spotlight, not for the most glamorous reasons, though.

Demetrious Johnson gives BTS on how the ‘John Pork’ meme became a reality

Discussing the meme after it reached its peak frenzy, Demetrious Johnson joined The MMA Guru to discuss the social media craze. “It’s so funny, like, I’ve heard about it,” ‘Mighty Mouse revealed his knowledge on the 6-year-old meme. “And, like, Michael was like, dude, we’re, we’re the reason why the meme would happen. I was like, what do you mean? I introduced my team. This guy, Chanco, 2-time world professional Muay Thai champion,” he added.

Well, the flyweight UFC champion wasn’t alone in making Zaynukov go viral. In fact, it was after Islam Makhachev’s “Chanco” was misheard as “John Pork” that social media erupted with the weirdest reference to the pig-head figure. Now, the Dagestani star has become synonymous with the figure with a plethora of ‘John Pork’ edits.

Who threw the bottle at Nate Diaz? Yes, you’re right, John Pork. And punching Dillon Danis? It’s the namesake of the human-pig figure again. You might have seen those edits of ‘Chanco’ being transformed into John Pork as well. The meme didn’t leave Makhachev or his training partner, even at conferences, the presser during UFC 322, to be specific.

“And that was enough for millions and millions of views of an edit of Chanko getting transferred into John Pork and his face being morphed into a human pig hybrid and then now everyone’s calling him John Pork and they’re at the press conference. There was a John Pork chant. And he’s everywhere,” the MMA Guru’s Kyle Antony Mee shared on the podcast.

Islam Makhachev even explained the origin of his name, ‘Wild Chanco,’ and pleaded with fans not to use ‘John Pork’ since Zaynukov was not a fan of it.  He is from the village of Chanco and hence kept the same name for his moniker.

For the moment, John Pork might be bigger than even the “Who the f– is that guy” McGregor meme. Unironically, the MMA Guru podcast clip’s reel on Instagram was spammed with the same GIFs and images of the pig-head meme. “I honestly I feel like if I say his name 1 more time he’s gonna be knocking at my door,” Mee joked on the viral sensation. For Chanco, however, this is much less funny.

‘Wild Chanco’ doesn’t like the John Pork meme

Magomed Zukaynov landed his UFC contract after a record 248 strikes in a Muay Thai-heavy finish. Edging out Lucas Caldas at the Las Vegas event, ‘Wild Chanco’ faced a clear knockdown in the first round and multiple eye-pokes before absolutely shredding Caldas with his high-volume strikes. But that was not what stole the spotlight of the night, with the fans resorting to continuing the John Pork lore.

Addressing this, the lightweight striker at the post-fight conference, “No John Pork. Chanco. People get a little confused between ‘John Pork’ and ‘Chanco.’ ‘John Pork’ is like a cartoon pig. I’ve said so many times, it’s not ‘John Pork,’ it’s ‘Chanco.’ So people don’t get confused, so the fans that support me understand I’m not ‘John Pork,’ I’m ‘Chanco.’ If possible, please don’t call me that. I don’t like it.”

Clearly, the Dagestani fighter does not find the meme quite as funny. However, it looks like the 8-0 star has learned to live with the meme. At Madison Square Garden, despite the crowd chants of ‘John Pork,’ Zukaynov was busy finishing old business with Conor McGregor ally Dillon Danis, and he does not regret it.