FIRST African Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman has attributed his willpower to succeed to poverty that he experienced as a boy growing up in Auchi, Edo State of Nigeria.
The new welterweight champion defeated Tyron Woodley who has held on to the title since 2016, in Las Vegas, U.S.
Speaking in no-hold-bare interview, facilitated by Blackzilians Gym, Usman training partner, he said the tough time he experienced in Nigeria propelled him to dream for the highest.
“I was born in Auchi- Nigeria. One thing that I remember about Nigeria is the joy of the people. You don’t have as much money, you don’t have the most money but you love life. You live life to the fullest each and every day. I grow up in a kind of mixture of village and city. The further north you move, you get close to the city, and the further south you go the more of a village it becomes. I was in the village where I learnt respect and how to get along with people. And I was also in the city where I learnt to be a little sly and smart. Learn the street life. As a kid we used to get bikes that their wheels are bad and we can use no more. We take the wheels off and we take it down the street and play with it, just to have fun. We became creative because we do not have the money to buy toys.”
Though, he left for the U.S at the age of eight, he said he was in constant touch with his roots. “Now what we have in Nigeria is there is really no middle class again. Poverty is high there. I hear people say they are poor here and government not catering for me and I laugh. You don’t really what poor is until you get to other places. Poverty in other country like Nigeria is high. The light will be off for months, weeks and sometimes you don’t know what you want to eat the next day. Clean water is a luxury in Nigeria and sometimes you have to walk miles to get it. I fetch water on my head alongside my mum, grandmother and siblings. Then you have to boil it before you drink it. I remember the streets; I remember having to walk what seemed like miles and miles and miles to fetch water from the wells with my grandmother. I lived with my grandmother for a year when I was very young, and even to this day when I tell my mother events that took place, she can’t believe that I can recall that far. I recall a lot of it. I recall the hard work that my family went through just to continue to live the lifestyle that we were living, which wasn’t by any means a great lifestyle. It was just an amazing lifestyle to instill certain values in a child That is poverty and that is what is propelling me to deal with any situation on the ring. It is what is driving me to work hard and move forward.”
Usman sees himself as the machineE to help eradicate poverty in his land. “I moved to the USA with my family at the age of eight. While growing up in the USA in high school, I followed wrestling and through it, I developed a passion for the combat sports and eventually went to college to wrestle. And after college, I wrestled for a couple of years on the Olympic circuit and after that it was just a natural progression and I thought the next biggest thing to accomplish was Mixed Martial Art (MMA). But I’m very close to my Nigerian roots. I want to touch my people and see how I can improve the way they live.”
Usman speaks more on his journey to the big league in the MMA and the journeys ahead. He spoke with TAIWO ALIMI.
How it all began
I grow up in a close knit family and we are strong too. I learnt how to fight for what I want and how to be hard working from Nigeria. I am not the only fighter in the family. My younger brother, Mohammed, is also a fighter on the MMA heavyweight circuit with three wins and a loss to his name. We are a close family and my family is always around me when I am fighting. They inspire me.
Why MMA?
At high school my wanted me to play soccer or baseball because soccer was popular in Nigeria and baseball in the U.S. There is also American football, basketball, track and field. In-fact I was in love with track and field events but there was something about wrestling. I guess my life as a fighter growing up helped me to choose. I just wanted to be a fighter. I also think that it is a game that my success and otherwise depends on me. I felt my hard work was going to take me to the top, it wasn’t what anybody else was doing to do for me, and it was what I was going to do. I know I could control l as much of the outcome as I could. I also love boxing and since MMA was already popular and doing well in the U.S why not go for it. So I did wrestling in school and learn boxing and quite fell in love with it so why not go for a sport that you can show both skill and even more. I just didn’t want to forget the skill that I developed in the last 10-12 years with wrestling which happens to be the hardest sport to learn. So, I wanted to continue to use that skill, which was why I decided to go for MMA.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is not new in the U.S. in- fact I remember Samuel Peter going by that name and Christian Okoye too in American football. They are both a class athletes and while they were at the top of the sports and they were the symbol of excellence in their sport at that time. It is a name to connect them with their country and excellent work they are doing at that time. I am the next guy on the block and the new ‘Nigeria Nightmare’ to bring glory and excellence to that nickname in combat sport. I know I will not disappoint.
Tyron Woodley defeat
I had predicted I would win that bout many times. I was ready for it and I said before the fight that it was a fight I’ve been waiting for all my life.
My convicted was way back in 2010, when I won a national title at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Since then I had done a record 14 wins and one loss.
Last September I almost got a chance to fight Woodley when his challenging could not make the weight. I went waiting on the line and preparing hard for it Till just came out of nowhere and got into the ring. I believe in fate. I believe in karma. I believe in things like that. I was ready and fully waiting to take full opportunity of that, but it didn’t happen, so hey, it’s not in God’s plan for me. Maybe God wanted me to get it a certain other way, but I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure that I’m a champion. So the opportunity finally came I was ready to make history.
(The Nation)
