UFC Chronicles: A Tree Is Known By Its Fruit

Nigerian native Kamaru Usman reflects on his childhood in Texas, hiding his wrestling pastime from his parents. In 2015, The Ultimate Fighter bridged the gap between father and son, and Usman waged an even bigger fight – for his dad’s freedom.

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For a long time the thing that I remember most about Nigeria was my mom raising all three of us the three boosman boys I couldn’t really remember my dad for the most Part it’s very hard when you when you’re growing up like that it’s very hard to to forget the way that the whole village raised us of course when we when we needed food we grew food we grew tomatoes we grew crops things of that

Nature so that was a part of what we how we were surviving but also my mother was a teacher and on top of that we owned a convenience store which we sold pretty much everything my mom was an ultimate Hustler while my dad was gone and I I didn’t understand that for

The most part why my my dad wasn’t there but then when my dad came back and I I remember it was such a big deal to just everyone in the village I’m like oh that’s my Dad I came here actually to further my education I was here for 7 years while I was in school I found out that there’s a lot of opportunities here that I didn’t have back in Africa having three boys in Nigeria and a wife must have been very difficult as

A military man he was a major in the Army in Nigeria he could have stayed there and life could have been easier for him but no he had bigger plans he saw the bigger picture that’s one of the reasons why my dad is uh my hero I just

Wanted the best for my kids actually that was my main goal of bringing my kids and my wife here so that they can have a better life when we eventually moved here we get picked up by our dad at the airport and we’re all together I felt complete

We lived in a one-bedroom apartment it was my mom my dad three boys we we lived that way until you know my dad continued to work hard as a pharmacist to where now we were able to buy our house which is over 20 something years

Ago all of us Brothers all all all the boys were blessed enough athletically to where we could play play sports at a high level you know you come from a Nigerian home first of all you want to be a doctor you want to be an engineer

Or you going to be a pharmacist these are the acceptable fields for you to go into not an athlete because there’s no that’s not a secure future and once my dad realized that they’re going to school they’re still making the grades that I want them to make he’s more okay

With letting us explore some of these Sports my oldest brother picked soccer my little brother he was a Head Hunter he was a football player he knew that he wanted to hit people he wanted to tackle people and and that’s where he excelled I told my father said I’m going

To go out for wrestling and I just remember him saying what like Stone Cold wrestling I’m like no no not like that Dad I’m not getting hit with chairs who’s wrestling n uh-uh cuz when he told me about the wrestling really I didn’t like it my dad was very Stern and so I

Just didn’t tell him until my junior year I think my mom is the one that actually uh caught me because I was wrestling in a city tournament which was televised and my mom happened to be flipping through TV one day and here I was on TV wrestling

My son what you do for TV what are you doing on TV and um I had to explain to her towards that senior year I think that’s where my father realized that I was at cuz I’m sure she told him the first tournament that he actually came to

Which was the state tournament he came in and he actually found me and when I got there a lot of folks were asking me are you Kamar dad are you Kamar dad and I was kind of ashamed of being so absent from most of his uh fight

But they don’t understand kind of the dynamic my dad was always working my dad was a very very very hardworking man it was ambition that that said that you know what I need to go study abroad I need to go to the US to study because I

I want to make something of myself which also led to him saying that I don’t just want to work for somebody for the rest of my life I want to start my own business when I got into the ambulance business I didn’t know much about the business I’m a pharmacist I bought the

Trucks the state came they certified my company his ambulance company was like I think top two top three in Dallas I I was like an investor like I open the business I own the business but I hired the professionals like the paramedics and the EMTs the

Next step in order to grow it more was to you know hire an outside billing company that’s going to come in and build for you while you’re running your company and so he hired them and the company were doing things that were on the up up

One faithful day I think they came to raid they called it operation easy ride or something like that where they raided about 12 ambulance companies they came and seized all my ambulances they froze all my account basically shutting down my business and what they were alleging was

We were picking up patients that were not qualified I’m like how do we know they were not qualified I mean they call us and we go pick them up and honestly at that point my dad’s company was big enough to where I couldn’t tell you that

If he knew what the dayto day was of each and every aspect of the company what my attorney told me f there was nothing criminal about what we were doing so she said we should settle with the government because they spent money in investigating so we settled everybody

Went about their business so I thought everything was over until 2 years 9 months something I was out of the business I was not doing the business no more I was on my own thinking that everything was over early in the morning I saw SWAT him in my house banging it [Applause]

Up I came down I said what’s going on I said they taking me down I said for what I get a call from my my mom and she’s screaming she’s crying on the phone I just remember my heart sinking in my chest like I thought this

Was over he said that was civil now it’s criminal I didn’t do the billing somebody else that was doing the billing if anything was wrong with the billing they should have uh picked up the billing company but they said where the money was coming to me I was one right in

Check they wouldn’t Grant bail I just remember feeling so powerless they said that there was even a statement that the billing company made saying that there was a time they made a mistake in our billing but they didn’t tell me for because they were scared out I

Was going to fire them and hire somebody Else my dad had a conversation with us and said that hey they’re um they’re offering me this plea deal when you’re innocent man and they’re telling you you got to spent three years of your life away from your family in jail you don’t you’re not going to take

That and he felt that the justice system would would serve him but one thing he’s not realizing is that they frozen all your assets to where you have no money he had to take a courta appointed attorney you can’t fight it I want to try to give me 15

Years I couldn’t fathom it I couldn’t like some murderers get less time than that how do you justify giving him that much [ __ ] time would have been better be dead than going through this because when you feel you didn’t do uh I don’t want to be emotional I don’t want to think

About because that’s when I thought my kids really needed me but just took me out of their life and the first time my wife and kids came to see me yeah that was the day that was the first day I break down I cried my wife cried my keys cried

And seeing my father for the first time having to go into the the facility at that point him he’s just a number in the system and have and having him come in and um and hold his family and I have to put myself in his reality that he has to go into

This into a cell and then for me to have to get in the car and drive away and he has to stay there it floored me big time He wrote me a letter said never let the family see you cry I he got a later my father was never really there when I was competing as an athlete but now that they took my father from me to where he couldn’t come at all even if he

Wanted to it grew the chip that was on my shoulder I talk to my wife like twice a day and my kids I try to call them like twice a week letting them realize that hey this is not the end of the world this should Forge ah head do the

Best they can being Nigerian we were already enriched with that that strong culture that we had to we had to go get an education we had to be able to get a job so we can provide for our families and that’s what my dad continued to push

Even while he wasn’t here I remember after 2012 I sparred for the first time I just knew that I was going to embark on it fighting in the UFC I had to go have a conversation with him about it and I remember at that time they had moved my father from the

Facility that he was in to where now you have to see him through a glass so one day he came to me at the jail house Dad this is what I would like to do I said for what why you going to do this and of course he’s like no I

Don’t necessarily want you to do it and this and that so I showed him the clips of me sparring I said well behind the glass I told him if that’s what you want to do you got my blessings personally meant a lot to me but I think it was also still keeping

Him in the loop and letting him know that he still has a grasp on his family I moved down to South Florida working with the black zillian down there and I could always find someone that I can see as that placeholder the guys the men that I looked up to like Rashad Evans

And just the way they carry themselves they all had certain qualities that my father had because when those men spoke or when they gave me any advice about certain things I listen and then the opportunity presented itself The Ultimate Fighter goes to South Florida two of the best MMA teams in the world

Compete I remember the last time I visited my father he told me that their work rooms they have TV in there and he told me he said that that UFC stuff was always in on the TV there and so it was kind of a little extra push for me to to

Commit to doing the show because there was a possibility that my father was going to be able to see it I’m fighting for my my future my life my family’s future I’m fighting for financial security for my daughter who will represent your team for the first fight please step forward

The first fight that Camaro had was very n wrecking for Me the whole prison knew that he was fighting so everybody was sitting down watching so I’m like this is really what my son is getting into ready let’s do [Applause] it take under [Applause] W and after the fight you see people coming to hug me imates will come make me they come tell me say hey your son is going to be a champ one day the winner is isman I can see a change in my dad I can see the excitement I can see life being

Brought into him his fights were the highlights while I was in prison I couldn’t tell you what it did did for me mentally it was instrumental that now I’m able to give my father something else to look forward to and he’s able to share with the

People that were around him on a daily basis that hey that that’s my son fast forward in my career to where I now signed to the UFC the first thing that I ask is my father going to be able to see this on broadcast TV that was my

Only concern and I tried to make sure that that that was there each and every time we’ve seen kamaro Usman have Sensational performances the question was always how good is he when he fights the best of the best we’re finding out now everybody knew he was going to fight

For the W TI but the unfortunate thing was it was on pay-per-view if I could I would have asked him to put that on broadcast TV I wanted him to watch that one so bad even though he wasn’t there physically I could feel that his Spirit was around

Me one man leaves Los Vegas the Undisputed UFC welterweight champion Usman immediately moving forward putting pressure on the champ oh big of a cut that attention now two more what we were watching was the highlights the CEOs correction our offices but letting us know what is going

On that’s it we got a new champ folks Africa United kamaro Usman has done it before that night was over with we saw the breaking news new UFC Undisputed WWE champ champion of the world when this little girl came along she lit a fire under me Joe and I got

Going the welterweight champion of the world ladies and gentlemen Kamar Usman Who’s the champion daddy so Daddy’s the Champ I limped to the back while I Lim to the back was the first call that my brother was on the phone here talk to Dad I sat ear I cried when he won when he won the Bel I cried then everybody was hugging me and all this stuff I crying the joy

That he felt I could feel it all the way through the phone and it’s a moment that I would never forget for the rest of my life ohow that’s really made me even more pop in prison than out here what is it like to be the champ

This is fresh for you oh well first of all I just want to say man it’s such an honor to be here my father has been incarcerated since 2009 and this is the first time really I’m you know ever talked about it like and when did your dad do for parole Lo

Behold great test the attorney that heard me talk about this through the jogan show he was the one who wrote those final letters and made some of those final calls to where it kind of helped expedite the process to where he’s like hey your dad’s going to be

Released they gave me the date February the 5th actually was the beginning of Corona virus I’ve been gone for almost 11 Years I understand what that was which is why um I go so hard as a parent now hey I didn’t even get to see my granddaughter until today I missed when she was born and had growing up it was like the day cannot come any sooner come on girl having my

Father now see my daughter hold my daughter love on my daughter that’s the way it should be now I get to understand kind of the importance of his presence in our lives I’ve tried the best that I could to raise my kyss and they now adult they raising

Their own kids so my main goal mine is just to raise my grand kids just kind of continue the the lineage Legacy of the name hman I’m behalf of friends and family uh I want to thank all you guys for coming out here today to celebrate our house

Warming and also to celebrate me and Jessica would you make me the happiest man in this house today to know that he sat down for 10 years and now you just witness your oldest son ask a woman to marry him this is my future father-in-law I can’t even put

That in the words what I think that is for him it’s it’s been a journey but glory be to God I was Blessed being a father to me means uh more than any accomplishment that I’ve ever achieved more than any medal or any belt or any achievement that I’ve ever got coming home and seeing him in his house I didn’t cry but um I damn sure wanted to it means the world to me now

That my father’s able to to see me in the light that he does how a boy navigated his way through life to restore the glory that his uh family lost at that moment I didn’t cry I was just filled with joy watching this man come back to his Home He