With a welterweight title and 20 wins to his name, as well as a successful podcast with Henry Cejudo, Kamaru Usman is one of the living, breathing success stories of the UFC.
However, his recent form seems to suggest that luck has soured somewhat. Usman is on a three-fight slide, having lost last time out to Khamzat Chimaev. Two years on from his last fight, and four years after his last UFC victory, Usman is set to lock horns with Joaquin Buckley this weekend in the main event of UFC on ESPN 69.
Buckley is on a six-fight winning streak, having beaten Colby Covington in his last fight. Coincidentally, Covington was the fighter that Usman beat in his most recent win in 2021. Now up to #7, the former champ Usman presents an important fight to Buckley who will look to continue his rise up the division towards the top contenders.
On a losing streak and out of match practice, Usman has a difficult fight ahead of him. But as his past personal struggles have shown, the Nigerian fighter is more than capable of overcoming adversity.
In 2009, long before Usman had stepped into the Octagon, his entrepreneurial father, Muhammed Usman, was arrested. Prior to the arrest, he had built a successful career in pharmaceuticals. Usman founded two ambulance companies in 2003 and 2005, respectively. However, he soon became beset with legal troubles.
His own companies accused Usman’s father of manipulating documents, leading to his 2009 arrest, which even involved the intervention of a SWAT team. They took him into custody, charged with multiple false-claim frauds – all of them allegedly enacted through his ambulance companies.
A year later, Muhammed Usman was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Even worse, he was ordered to make a restitution of $1.3 million in light of the guilty verdict. He went on to serve 10 years of that sentence, being released in 2020. Kamaru Usman continues to insist that his father never committed a single crime.
Why did Kamaru Usman not initially fight in UFC PPVs?
During his father’s prison sentence, Usman made waves in the UFC. He won the 21st edition of The Ultimate Fighter in 2015 and fought 11 times in the promotion during his father’s incarceration.
Usman won every single fight, including a 2019 win over Tyron Woodley, which delivered him the welterweight title. He would defend it once, against Colby Covington, before his father’s release.
Surprisingly, none of these fights took place at PPV events. But this wasn’t a stipulation enforced by the UFC. In fact, it was Usman who pushed for his bouts to take place exclusively at UFC Fight Night events. The reason was surprising, but in keeping with Usman’s humble and respectful character.
Quite simply, UFC did not broadcast PPVs in prison. However, UFC Fight Night events were telecast in prison, meaning his father wouldn’t miss his fights while serving his sentence.
Considering Usman was a rising star during his father’s time in prison, his decision to forego PPV coverage would’ve reduced both his payouts and promotion by the UFC. But to Usman, it seems that being able to share his successes with his father was far more important than achieving greater stardom and riches in the UFC.
