In the early hours of Sunday, Kamaru Usman faced off against Jorge Masvidal in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The Nigerian-born American mixed martial artist was the reigning world champion — the first ever from Africa — and most viewers tuning in from different time zones expected him to retain the welterweight championship belt.
“I had to switch gears to prepare for him on six days notice,” Usman said. “I had to make a mental switch. I prepared for Gilbert and I had a completely different gameplay.” But maybe that’s just because Usman has made winning look so routine. So far in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, he is unbeaten after 16 bouts.“There was a time where people started hating Floyd Mayweather because he was so dominant,” said the man described by friends and foes alike as “the Nigerian Nightmare”. Usman’s long journey to the pinnacle of mixed martial arts began in Auchi, in the midwestern Nigerian state of Edo.
Muhammed missed out on a huge chunk of his child’s life, but he has always been a part of it, Kamaru says. In 2012, although apprehensive like his mother, Afishetu, Muhammed gave his son his blessing to turn professional. His father had only seen him compete live three times, the last being a Division II national championship in 2009, in Houston. Other bouts were seen behind the bars in the company of other inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas, on one of the six televisions, on cable — thanks to his son’s refusal to go premium.
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