Like Adesanya, Usman has advocated for UFC events in Africa as a way to engage youth. Usman has championed his nickname ‘the Nigerian Nightmare,’ inspired by former American National Football League (NFL) star Christian Okoye who was known by the same moniker and gave his blessing to Usman to use the trademarked name as well. Since his debut in 2015, Usman has proven unstoppable, winning 11 straight fights, and defeating Tyron Woodley (American) to become welterweight champion and the first African-born champion in March 2019. Usman emigrated to the United States when he was eight and later took up wrestling, finding success in high school and college.īetween training for the 2012 Olympic Games and working as a sparring partner, Usman wanted to pursue a more profitable career and switched to MMA, eventually joining the UFC. He has set up the Francis Ngannou Foundation back home, an NGO “created to enable the youth of Cameroon to…make a significant, positive difference in their lives.” It has helped create a gym where youth can train and pursue MMA, with Ngannou visiting often and taking a hands-on approach.Īnother Nigerian-born fighter, current welterweight champion and friend of Adesanya, is 33-year-old Kamaru Usman, who was born in Auchi, southern Nigeria. With his success in the sport, Ngannou has not forgotten his roots. Of the discomfort of the nasal swab test, he said, “I’d rather take a punch.” Ngannou was quarantined during his fight on 9 May, tested several times, and fought in an arena without spectators.
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Although he failed in his first title opportunity, Ngannou should expect another opportunity soon.Įmbodying his nickname ‘the Predator,’ inspired by the Arnold Schwarzenegger-lead movie of the same name, Ngannou has won all 15 fights by finish, (either knockout, technical knockout (referee’s discretion) or submitting his opponent), 11 in the first round.
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Since joining the UFC in December 2015, Ngannou has gone (win-loss) 10-2 in the UFC heavyweight division after a 5-1 professional start. He started his professional career a year later, when some fighters have almost a decade of experience. Ngannou was homeless until, while working at a homeless shelter, a friend encouraged him to consider MMA. Growing up in Batie, western Cameroon, Ngannou was working in a sand quarry to support his family by the time he was 13 years old.Īt 26, he emigrated to Paris to pursue boxing. After a two-month suspension, it has been one of the few professional sports to quickly return to action in May, albeit with fewer personnel and no fans present.Ĭameroonian-French Francis Ngannou is one of the few who has participated in a post-COVID-19 event. In his words, he “t gold back to Africa.”Īdesanya has pushed the UFC president to hold events in Africa to increase MMA’s popularity and create jobs on the continent.Īs with other sports, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the UFC.
Known as ‘the Last Stylebender’ for his anime-inspired pre-fight routines, he has earned seven performance-related bonuses, including ‘fight-of-the-year’ in 2019. Starting his professional career, Adesanya competed separately in kickboxing, boxing, and MMA, where he amassed records (win-loss) of 75-5, 5-1, and 11-0, respectively, before joining the UFC in early 2018, where he remains undefeated, winning eight straight fights.
He says his struggles with bullying, loneliness and racism motivated him to pursue combat sports. Adesanya took the middleweight championship belt after defeating Kelvin Gastelum (American) and Robert Whittaker (Australian) in successive fights.Īdesanya did not begin training full-time until he was 21, when he moved to Auckland to join the City Kickboxing team. If no one wins after the allotted time, three judges determine the winner.ĭespite a global representation of fighters, there are only 11 active African-born UFC fighters out of 580 employed by the UFC. Typical fights include three 5-minute rounds (five 5-minute rounds for championship fights), where each fighter will have a chance to defeat their opponent, similar to boxing. MMA allows fighters to use any style of fighting, such as boxing, wrestling, or muay thai, and the UFC creates matchups within each weight division. Born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in New Zealand since he was 12, he became middleweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s most popular and competitive promoter of Mixed-Martial-Arts (MMA), with hundreds of fighters across different weight classes. 2019 was a big year for 30-year old Israel Adesanya.
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