Nigerian born martial arts champion, Kamaru Usman has recalled how he used to help his mum to sell fufu back home in Nigeria before relocating to the United States in search of greener pastures.
The Auchi-born fighter who is UFC’s current welterweight champion revealed that and more while sharing stories of his humble beginning in Nigeria during an interview with Channels TV.
The mixed-martial arts fighter who moved to the US at the age of 8 also gave kudos to his mother for whom he described as a hustler who sold different things to put food on the table of her family.
He said; “We grew up in the village. We farmed. As a small farm boy, I used to hawk Akpu, put hot Akpu on my head. I came from nothing.
“There is just struggle every day, the struggle to, how are we gonna eat next week, next month. What are we gonna do?
“We owned a small store where we sold clothes, we sold shoes, my mum sold bags, anything that we could sell, my mum was able to get and try to sell. My mum was a hustler and that is one of the things I respect so much about her as a woman with three rowdy Naija boys.”
The fighter also disclosed that his father went to prison while he was still in college, and also talked about the father-daughter bond he enjoys with his five-year-old daughter, Samirah.
“My daughter, Samirah, I love her to death. She’s very intriguing to me because from about 6 months to about three and half years of her life, she went to the gym with me every day. Then she hit about five years and then she started saying, ‘you know I’m not going to do this daddy, right. You know I’m not going to do this sport.’
“I think I have to just accept that and honestly I don’t think I want her for this sport anyway. She’s got her thing, she’s doing gymnastics and for self defence. She does Ju-Jitsu because she has to learn how to control the situation if anything happens. I’m okay with those right now,” he added.
