The Journey of Kamaru Usman: From living a Peasant Life in Nigeria to UFC Welterweight Champion
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Kamaru Usman and his family (Image Courtesy: MMA Fighting)
Kamaru Usman is one of the most successful UFC superstars in recent times. Complete mixed martial artists with equally amazing striking and wrestling skills. Usman had one of the most dominating reigns as a welterweight champion and he never backed down from any challenge. However, as a young kid in Nigeria, life was hard and from that to a global superstar, it’s been quite a journey.
Usman was born on 11th March 1987 in Auchi, Nigeria in a middle-class family. His mother was a housewife and his father used to serve in the Nigerian army. Usman grew up with his brother, Mohammed, and a younger sister and were peasants. Life was hard and he and his family had to work a lot to get basic needs. As a young kid, Usman had to walk for miles in order to get water as most locals did the same in his hometown. He also used to work on his farmland with his parents but things changed soon.
Usman’s father moved to the United States to become a pharmacist and later brought the whole family to the US. Usman was eight years old and with this move, new problems started to appear as moving to a whole new country was tough. In the US, Usman initially struggled to speak English and get into the schooling culture of the country.
Kamaru Usman’s life in school and getting into wrestling
Usman studied at Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas, and was always into sports. In his teens, he tried his best to get into the school’s football team. Usman failed to do so and afterward, dropped the idea after suffering an injury. After that, Usman got into wrestling and was a natural at it. Usman’s coach had a hard time pronouncing his name and used to call him ‘Marty’ which became one of his nicknames.
Usman stacked up a 53-3 record as a senior and was third in his state. As a freestyle wrestler, Usman got even better and put on some great performances at NCAA division 2 competitions. Later the young wrestler shifted to MMA and never looked back.
Kamaru Usman professional MMA career
Usman’s professional MMA career started in 2012 when he fought in a local MMA promotion in Nebraska. After performing great in his early years, Usman finally got the big UFC breakthrough in 2015. Since day one in UFC, Usman was unstoppable and went through everybody to rise to the top. Usman got the UFC welterweight title opportunity by beating Rafael dos Anjos and then he captured the belt by dethroning Tyron Woodley in 2019.
After that Kamaru started his tenure as the new welterweight champion and he was incredible. The ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ defended his title five times against some of the greatest welterweights in UFC history. His rivalry with Colby Covington is undoubtedly one of the most brutal ones in recent UFC memory.
Usman was clinical and finished Covington, Jorge Masvidal, and Gilbert Burns with ease. From a peasant from Nigeria, Usman became one of the most grossing UFC fighters with the ability to sell huge Pay-per-views in his fights.
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