Kamaru Usman, Nigerian-American martial artist and Welterweight champion, has carved a niche for himself in the world of sports.

The 33-year-old ‘Nigerian Nightmare,’ as he is popularly known, tells his tale behind the belts and kicks on the Gist Nigeria, a 30-minute current affairs show co-produced by Channels Television and the BBC.

Usman, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, remembered selling fufu while living in Edo state in an interview with Channels Television. He was born in Auchi and moved to the United States when he was eight years old, identified his mother as a hustler who sold various products.

“We grew up in the village. We farmed. As a small boy, 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 revealed that his father was imprisoned when he was still in college, and he spoke about his father-daughter relationship with his five-year-old daughter, Samirah.

Usman added; 

“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 do this sport.’

“I think I have to just accept that and honestly I don’t think I want her to 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.”

Watch the video below: