Meet our athlete: Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman

As you may know, Kamaru Usman is the proud athlete of Gorilla Wear and will soon take on Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261. The Nigerian born American is taking on his opponent for the second time. The first time, Usman won convincingly and he already booked his tenth victory. Because of this, he is still undefeated in the UFC, but how did he manage to get this far?

Emigrating

Kamaru Usman was born in Auchi, Nigeria. He lived here with his parents and two brothers. One of his two brothers is also an MMA-fighter. He grew up in Benin City and Usman struggled with the conditions of the environment during his childhood. His father was a pharmacist and decided to move his family to the United States. Eight-year-old Usman then lived in Dallas, Texas.

Usman started his wrestling career at Bowie High School in Arlington. He got the nickname "Marty" quickly because his trainer could not pronounce his name correctly. After winning several matches, he quickly managed to get into the spotlight. With the icing on the cake, he became an NCAA Division II national champion in 2010. He did this with a record of 44-1 with 30 consecutive wins. After this, he focused on freestyle wrestling and came into contact with the United States Olympic Center. Here he hoped to have a chance on the Olympic team of 2012, but unfortunately this did not succeed. This made him decide to focus on mixed martial arts. Here he got the nickname 'The Nigerian Nightmare'.

MMA

In 2012 Usman made his professional MMA debut. After many impressive matches, he made his debut in The Ultimate Fighter 21 in 2015. He won this tournament. After this tournament, he started in the UFC and today has a record of 18 wins 1 draw and 0 losses. This record has ensured that he is named welterweight champion. He has defended the belt three times already and on 24 April, he will take on Jorge Masvidal again and will do so for the fourth time. In the first match, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' controlled the entire match and managed to retain his title.

Kamaru Usman T-Shirt

Because Gorilla Wear is the proud sponsor of Kamaru Usman, they designed a t-shirt in collaboration with 'The Nigerian Nightmare'. The Kamaru Usman T-Shirt contains a unique design which is especially made for the real Kamaru Usman fans. Buy this shirt now on our site! Gorilla Wear also recently went LIVE on our YouTube channel with Kamaru Usman. Watch the LIVE Q&A now on our Youtube Channel

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