Nigeria’s Kamaru Usman Emerges First African UFC Champion

Nigerian born Kamaru Usman has made history by becoming the first African to win the UFC Championship. The 31-year-old mixed-martial art fighter defeated Tyron Woodley via five rounds in front of a packed audience.

The genre has been seeing a lot of interest from Nigeria as fighters of the country’s extraction have been doing well. Israel Adesanya who was born in Lagos but relocated to New Zealand as a child is a cruiserweight champion himself.

Kamaru Usman, nicknamed “The Nigerian Nightmare” was born in Benin City and emigrated to the United States at the age of 8 where he first took to wrestling and then mixed martial arts later on.

“Can’t nobody handle me?. I’ve been wanting this fight, and I’ll be honest, I might not be the best striker in the world. I might not be the best wrestler in the world. But when it comes to mixing this stuff up, I’m the best in the world right now,” he said when he received the belt.