Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) number five welterweight contender, Kamaru Usman has restated his love for the country of his birth, Nigeria, Sports247 reports.
Although he has lived in the United States of America since he was taken there by his parents at the age of eight, Usman declared emphatically that he has so much love for Africa’s most populated nation.
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Speaking against the backdrop of his UFC victory last weekend against Joaquin Buckley, Usman said he felt proud being able to carry the Nigerian flag high once again.
While admitting that Nigeria has several socio-economic challenges that the citizens usually complain shout, Usman, who attended Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas as well as William Prnn University and University of Nebraska, stressed that he still feels lots of passion about his ancestral country.
The 38-year-old former UFC middleweight champion declared emphatically, “I don’t know how or where it is, but there’s a pride in me about Nigeria. Even for a country that is so badly managed like Nigeria, there’s a pride that’s in me.”
Usman, who shot into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) limelight during his collegiate days with Kearney Lopers, with which he won bronze (2008), silver (2009), and gold (2010) at the NCAA Division 2 Championship, added that he has been carrying Nigeria’s flag high since his very first day in The Octagon.
“The moment I stepped into the UFC, I was holding that flag high, immediately; because of that pride in me.
“It doesn’t matter where you are. Even if I’ve never seen you there in my life, I’ll say, ‘You are my brother, now … the Nigerian way. That’s my guy.’ We know each other,’ concluded Usman, who was born in Auchi, Edo State on May 11, 1987.
Incidentally, Sports247 gathered that, because of his passion for his birth country, Usman had to take special permission from former American Football star, Christian Okoye to use the nickname ‘Nigerian Nightmare,’ which the ex-USA National Football League (NFL) slugger had registered as a trademark for himself.
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