WEBVTT - Kamaru Usman 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:01.840 They want to offer us a hundred million dollars. Me 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:03.200 isn't gonna have to go in the back room and 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:06.200 talk about this, and we want we want to do 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:08.080 it a hundred million dollars. You know, you got mom 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.319 and dadd Now they they living up there in the 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.840 upper room and they living somewhere nice now you know. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.240 So you know that's the conversation men and would have 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:17.720 to have. But right now it don't make no sense 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.120 for me because and I've said it before, two Nigerians 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.960 having belts, right, it's more important than do that all 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.720 my life, the grinding all my life, sack fights, hustle, 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:32.360 back price, one slice got the dice swad all my life. 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.240 I've been grinding all my life, all my life, the 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:39.919 grinding all my life, sacond fights, hustle, pack price, one 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.040 slice got the brother dice to swad all my life. 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.840 I've been grinding all my life. Hello, welcome to another 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.400 edition of Club Sha Shake. I am your whole Shannon Sharp. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.760 I'm also the proproud of Club Sha Shake. The guy 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:55.840 that's stopping by for conversation on the drink today is 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.240 one of the USC's best. He's the reigning and defending 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:01.640 well toweight chance. He was the pound for pound best 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.720 fighter in the UFC twenty twenty one Fighter of the Year, 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:10.600 King of the Octagon. The Nigerian Nightmare, Kamaro Uzma. How 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:12.800 you doing, br I'm good, I'm good. Hold on, hold on, 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.640 hold on the be here. I got ask that name, 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:19.479 Nigeria Nightmare. Now you know Christianna Coore, you had that name? Yeah? 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.600 Have you ever met Yeah? I actually met him. It's 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:25.399 a crazy story, I do. I did a little bit 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.680 of research on it, okay, because it's when you're growing 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.640 up a Nigerian athlete. Growing up, you hear that name 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:33.840 a lot, right. He's not the first to have a name, 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.720 oh he not. No, We've had a plenty of famous 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.560 soccer players that had the name. So it was just 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:43.280 a name that that just signifies excellent, right. So it 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.000 was if it was any Nigerian at the top of 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.880 their game and they respected sport, that was the name 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.760 you had to carry on that torch. And so growing up, 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.920 I was like, man, I wish I haven't was, you know, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.720 in a sports where I could carry on that name. 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:00.600 So when I got into him and May, I was like, 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.760 there's no one in this space with that name, right, 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.440 I need that right, So I carried on the name 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:07.240 for a while, so you know, you're building the buzz. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.000 You're building the buzz. And then once I got to 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.200 that level where I was about the challenge for the title, right, 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.679 I had the USC do the research or reach out 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.040 to him and he was actually there. He watched me 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.040 become the champions. Okay, he was there also the other 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.280 Nigeria ninemare with Samuel Peters heavy WBC Heavyweight Champions in 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.880 the World. Okay, he was there as well that night 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.720 in Vegas when I won the title. Okay, yeah, I'm 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:30.560 sure a little a little secret which I haven't told 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:36.000 anybody this. I did my ancestry. I'm ninety percent Nigeria. 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.359 Of course I see it. I see it the way 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:45.960 you talk. Oh yeah, okay, we've been claiming you are. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.200 But what what okay? What do I okay, what foods 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:51.960 do I need to eat? What do I is there 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:53.760 certain is there a certain food that I need to 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.440 eat that's uh exclusively for you for the Nigeria. I 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.600 can tell you like chicken I do. I could tell 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.639 you like rice I do. Right there, We're good. We 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.120 like chicken with like rice. Right, you know we're mixing 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:11.360 other things in there, you know, but that's that's the foundation. Okay, 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.160 when you eat those, you got your size, you got 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.840 your strength. Good. What about gear? See, I know, I 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:18.359 see you came in here, you cat you nice little 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.040 jacket on. You got your jeans, you got the double 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:25.360 jeans all. So obviously you know, Nigerias are fashionable. We 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.040 are very fashionable. We we And this is the thing too, 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.760 is I think a culturally you know, in this culture 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:35.880 that where we a lot of people they see some 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.400 of these guys with this jewelry. There's there's a such 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.800 thing as being sensible, right with especially with all these athletes. 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.040 And when you get money, you gotta be sensible. You 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:46.960 gotta do the right things first. You gotta make sure 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.160 you have your money in places to where you know, 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:51.520 you don't never run out of money. Right. But of 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:56.000 course having the jewelry and the thing we come from kings, right, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.280 we come from gold and diamonds, so yeah, we like 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.040 those things. Those are in us, right, there's nothing wrong 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.840 with that. So yeah, Nigerians we were fashioned them. But 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:11.680 we like to shine. Yeah, if you don't, if you 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:13.720 don't work for it, you don't earn it. Why not you? 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.279 You gotta show a little exact, exact inspiration. How important 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.000 is it for you to represent the Nigerian culture and 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:27.200 represent it appropriately. It's very important because and it sounds 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.320 cliche cheesy, but it was something in this for me 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.479 is that famous line in that Spider Man movie. With 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.919 great power comes great responsibility. You don't choose to be 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.880 in a certain position. Sometimes you're placed there to be 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.800 able to touch and effect change in certain ways. And 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.239 that's something that I learned and I I understood early 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.719 because growing up, I didn't really see somebody in the 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.560 spot to show me that all that can be done right, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.039 that that's something that you can get one day once 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.960 you go down this path. I didn't really see it through, 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.160 you know, the positions that I was put in and 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.640 the doors that I was blessed to be able to 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.960 walk through. I found myself in this place to where 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.680 it's very rare nowadays to be the first to ever 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.520 do anything right and to say that I was the 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.920 first ever Nigeria born Mixed Martial us UFC champion right. 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.919 It is something that I don't take for granted, and 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.400 so it's extremely important for me to show the next 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.080 generations everybody else, all the kids coming up, that hey, 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.560 you do have somebody that represents you right, and that 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.520 you can get to that point one day. You was 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.560 born and raised in Nigeria, what was it like and 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.039 what did as a kid? You mentioned soccer players. Obviously 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:43.320 the soccer is big, so as a kid growing up 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:47.480 in Nigeria, what were your aspirations? What did Carmaro Usman 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:51.160 want to be as a kid? Of course, in sports, 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.640 you we boys, you know, I was growing up it 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:55.800 was three of us, three brothers until my sister came 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.200 later on, but it was three boys. So if it 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.200 was problems out there, we fought together, you know. And 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:03.800 then if it was if it was sports, we was 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.839 gonna play together. Football what we called it, which is 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.680 soccer here is what we all played. Of course, everybody 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.640 wanted to be the best at it. You saw some 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.600 of the stars JJ Colches, some of those guys, so 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.479 we all wanted to be like them. So then eventually 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.479 when we immigrated here, it was like now you got 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.320 to simulate to what's going on and the sport wasn't 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.760 so big. And I was in Texas right and so 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.560 foa it was football, or he was playing basketball, right. 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.600 I didn't had a hype for basketball, so it was 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.600 football right. Middle school, I was okay, right, and then 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.240 you got to high school and the boys looked like 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:41.320 college players and I wouldn't. I wouldn't messing with him. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.280 So I was kind of caught in a space to 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:45.560 where I didn't really know where I could fit in 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.280 because I was freshman year. I was five ft two, 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.560 one hundred and three pounds. Yeah that's not it wasn't yeah, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:53.560 So I didn't know in my in my mind, I 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.320 was like, I'm not gonna grow right, and and I'm 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.360 watching all these guys and I just can't find out 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.200 where I fit in. And the assistant football coach was 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.240 the assistant wrestling coach, right, and he kept why don't 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.520 you come in and try wrestling? And I remember the 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.040 wrestling I was watching with my dads. Don't coach Steve Voston. 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.360 So I told him, I said, man, I don't want 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.080 to get hit with chairs. I ain't trying to do that. 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:18.920 And he laughed at me and said, why don't you 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.480 come on in there and try it? One day, and 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.600 I was walking by the gym and I peeked my 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.200 head in there one day, and it was it was older, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.920 it was a small it was I just I was like, nah, 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.520 that's not for me, right, and and I but I was, 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.560 I was a little shook on the inside. I just 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.320 seen it was about sixty seventy kids in there slamming 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.080 each other down, and and I was like, yeah, that's 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.280 not that's not for me. And that was the thing 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.440 as football players because football is king here in this country. 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.800 So football players we liked it. Were tough. You're the 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.600 toughest guy. You're the big basketball player. So we don't 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:55.480 like to admit that it's something else that it's more 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.640 difficult out there that we can't do. So I was like, no, 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.360 I'm a big, bad football player, even I was one 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.600 hundred and three pounds for two Naw, I'm a football player. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:05.640 Now we don't we don't do that, right. But I 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.560 was shook on this side. So he kept the coach 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:10.040 kept making fun of me and making fun of me. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:12.000 I was like, man, you know one would shut him up. 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.280 One day, I'm going there and showing him up. And 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.680 I went in there one day and they put me 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.360 in the group with two other two other guys and 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:25.280 a girl and yeah, it was all out of salt. 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.840 You know. This girl beat on me so bad, took 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.560 me down, slam me. I didn't know how to get up. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.000 It was the first time in my life to where 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.720 I felt like I didn't understand something and there's nothing 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.559 I can do about it. And I just remember walking 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.000 home that day and I was thinking, man, I'm gonna 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.880 get him back tomorrow. So I kept showing up and 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.200 showing up and showing up. Next thing you know it, 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.320 I've been in there for about a month or two months, 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:55.800 and one day we wrestled. I threw a move and 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.559 I landed it, and I was walking home that day, 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.440 I said, man, I actually learned something, right, I'm coming 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.280 back the next day. I ain't go off for football. 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.800 I went straight to wrestling and the rest was history. 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.400 Being a Nigeria was raised on a farm. So what 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.880 what what did you do? What did you have like pigs? 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:13.839 You had chickens? I mean, what kind of farm were 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.480 you on? We were kind of It wasn't a full 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.040 bread like here we full bread farm, right and right. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.200 It wasn't necessarily full bread farm like that. We did 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.880 a seasonal to right. At the point my dad at 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.319 all was already here. My dad was going to school here, okay, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.480 and so my mom is there with three boys, right, 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:35.360 so we we we grew corn, you know, yams with 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.400 it for the sailor we just for you guys to okay, okay, 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.000 So sometimes we of course, you know, you eat you 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.960 know special kids. You had chicken. Yeah, we're hard, but 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.240 it's hard work to get in them. You got you got, yeah, 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.440 I grew up on you got a planet, watch some girls, 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.560 yeah yeah. And so we had all of that. And 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.520 my mom, my mom was an ultimate hustler. She was 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.800 a teacher, right, she owned the store, all of the above. 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.680 And so going up I got to see every level 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.880 of hustle, right, I got to see it all. So 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.600 coming here and immigrating here, it was just I just 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.160 I say, it's a different level of hustle, right in 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:17.719 my mind. You know that most kids that I grew 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.520 up with, you say, you had three three or three boys, 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.240 then your sister came along. How was the discipline because 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.640 your father's away, Because there's something about a father's voice 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.080 and a boy that would resonate a little bit more 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.520 than a mother. So your dad is thousands and thousands 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:35.880 of miles away, you and your brothers getting the tussle. 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:37.679 If somebody gets the best of one and all of 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.559 a sudden all heiled break loose. How did your mama 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.640 control that situation? It's my dad always had a voice, yes, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:49.080 So even though he went there, his voice was loud. Yeah, 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.080 he had a voice. And so and that that was 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.600 a big thing about growing up in Nigeria as well 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.760 as it wasn't just mom and dad that raised you. 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.440 The village, the whole village raised. You know, you did 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.319 something up the street and they house over there, always 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.559 coming back to your house. Yeah, Oh they might whoop 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.160 you over there. Then they're gonna back yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.160 you're gonna Yeah, you got the whooping over there, came 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.720 back to your house and you got the whooping. Yeah. 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.800 And so it was a whole village. So you knew 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:21.720 how you was growing up, the whole village. You knew 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.760 how he was growing up. And so even then, my 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.120 mom still had a firm grip on things. And you know, 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.400 you understand the dynamic. The mother's gonna be the loving one, right, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.760 but she still she was able to deal with the 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.040 three boys. And at that point we were still we 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:41.120 were still relatively young, So we weren't we weren't. Yeah, 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.960 not quite yet. Yeah, when your dad said we're going 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.640 to the States, obviously born, raised in Nigeria, you got 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.200 friends in Nigeria. Now when you go to the States, 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.880 this is not like, Okay, I'm in California and I'm 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.160 gonna move to Arizona, or I'm in George, I'm gonna 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.880 move to Florida. You on one continent, You're about to 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.400 move to another continent, and there's a very good chance 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.959 you're probably not gonna see these again. Yeah, what went 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:09.280 through your mind? I meant that at that point, you're 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.280 a young man. You don't you're just going with the flow. 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.280 You don't really know what to expect. You know, you 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.800 don't have that make mental capability to be able to Okay, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.000 I don't like this. I liked it. You just knew 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.439 that this is what's happening, right, and you were going 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.400 along with it. But you had heard about you you 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.080 had heard about it. Oh yeah, you don't heard about 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.840 the US. You heard about McDonald's. You know, I didn't 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.319 even know what McDonald's was, but I wanted to McDonald's. 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.120 What was so you heard about all these things you've 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:39.080 seen him on TV. And so now you get up 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.640 first something bit on the airplane, get off an airplane 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:48.720 after hours and hours on the flight. And crazy thing 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.319 is the day we landed was one of the first 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.960 times it's snowed in Texas in a long time. Okay, 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.720 I think maybe over ten years. So the night we 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.520 get outs, first night are slowing so we can arrive 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:03.880 here like two thousand nins. No, it was in the 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.080 I want to say ninety I want to say ninety eight, Okay, 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:12.000 someone around that. So we come come out and were like, 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.160 oh what we Nigeria. It's not sun and rain sun 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.000 and rain? And I'm like, what is this white stuff 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:21.680 for you? And we tug out the car trying to 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:26.040 be trying to see what this is, okay, and and 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.080 you know, the car slipping and slide right, And that 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:35.080 was my first experience. So it shattered everything that you 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.240 you thought, whatever you thought that you were going to 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:39.800 experience when you came out. There was no words that 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.520 I can describe it. How much TV did you watch? 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:49.440 How much because obviously being from another country and the 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:54.760 language obviously, and then so how much American TV did 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.120 you watch? To figure out Okay, this is what I 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:58.679 should say when they say this, this is how I 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.640 should do, Just what I should do. They do that 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.120 a lot of it, a lot of it. And that's 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.400 the thing. When you're a kid. TV is is one 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.319 of the biggest teachers. Yes, So that's why obviously the 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.920 parental guidance and the certain things that you should be 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.400 able to children should be able to watch, and televisions 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:19.080 so important nowadays because you don't realize how big that is. Right, 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.560 We watched TV constantly to where we we learned what 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:25.960 you could and you couldn't say. And I learned quickly, 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.640 right because how much English did you speak before you 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.680 ride through? We spoke I mean the root of the 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.960 language in Nigeria is English. Okay, so you speak a 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.520 bit of English, but it's just different English. So certain 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.920 words are differently. You know, you can tell obviously the 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.760 Europeans colonized that area, so you know, our English is 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:49.440 different than American English, right like obviously the trash can 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:51.360 here we call it the trash can, but that's the 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.160 despoin Okay, you know, so you you you say certain 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.800 words differently, but we still we spoke English. But then 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.040 you come to America. The slang is what what got it? 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.560 The slangs will get you. And I remember That's where 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.720 going back to the TV and the things that you 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.120 should watch, it was obviously we might remember some marriage 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.280 with children with Al Bundy, and so that was that 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.160 was that was a show. We I uhould love to 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.400 watch that show. So we watched the show. And there 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.880 were certain words. You know, Kelly was the blonde, and 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.640 so she was you know, you can't say those words nowadays, 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.120 you know. And and it was a word that was 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.520 said to her. And I went to school. I was, 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:36.200 I guess you called girls that? And and I said 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.480 it to a girl and I think it was I 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:39.960 was in the fourth grade at that point. I said 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.480 it to a girl. Yeah, I was in the principal office. 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.480 They called my dad. I got a whoop in that day. Okay. 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.280 So you start to learn very quickly things you can 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.600 as certain things you can't say. Well, if you moved 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:57.200 to Texas, you moved to Arlington, you in Texas, football 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:04.600 is king pro sports. Cowboys tell me tell much to 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.040 tell me cowboys? And Skip, I was with you back 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:10.800 in the day. Skip, I was with you. I of course, 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.960 by default, I'm a Cowboys fan, okay to by default, right, 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.360 But you know, now, in my position, I have so 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.080 many friends that played for so many different teams. I 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.840 support my friends. So if my friends played for the Saints, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.280 I gotta support them. If they played for the for 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.920 the Ravens, I gotta support them. Right. So that's mainly 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.120 what I support. But by default, in my heart, if 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.320 the Cowboys succeeding, I have to I have to support them. Well, 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:38.800 you ain't seeing them, and they ain't then much of 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.160 in the very long time you came here in ninety eight, 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.960 you ain't see the man I'm gonna get I'm gonna 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.080 give you opportunity before we end this interview to get 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.520 on another team that could possibly possibly win it, if 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:54.200 you like. I see. That's the thing. Though, I watched 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:58.680 the game, okay, and Andy, they said they I'm big tired. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.760 I was tired of being disappointed. They told me this 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.720 was a year, you know, Skip said this was a year. Yeah, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:06.879 it was gonna do it. It was gonna do it. 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.640 And so I watched the game and I was just like, man, 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.800 so many opportunities and we just we just couldn't get 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.000 over it. But but we you know, y'all in my heart, cowboys, 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.520 y'all in my heart. You come here, you said, well, 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.200 I'm too small to play football. You start wrestling. Did 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.159 you view wrestling as your opportunity to get out to 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:33.640 do go places? No, I didn't. I didn't. It's one 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.160 thing about when you're coming from an immigrant family, especially 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.359 in African family, certain career fields that you were gonna 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:42.720 be able to go into. It's gonna be a doctor, doctor, 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.520 gonna be an engineer, gonna be a pharmacist, and it's 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:51.120 maybe a lawyer. You know nothing else, that's it. Those 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.679 are the accepted fields that you were always going to 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.240 get a job, right, So that's where you wanted to be, 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.280 not an athlete. That wasn't in there, right. And so 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.439 for the first two years of me wrestling, I actually 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.240 lied to my parents about it, right, So I they 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.840 once they said the grades, you gotta keep the grades up. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.000 So I said, okay, once the grades were up, could 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.280 I practice? Could I go to football? And they yeah, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:15.720 of course you could. You could do that. That's on 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.560 the side though, right, I said, Okay, So they ain't 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:22.320 known I have. I was done football after that, I 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:24.760 was wise and knowing that air and you have the size, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.720 it's time to move on. So I was done with 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.600 it after freshman year. So now I was in the 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.399 wrestling right, So I was going to practice. And of course, 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.440 the same thing I thought when I first was introduced 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.720 to wrestling, if they would have heart wrestling, they would 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.719 have said, no, we just watched SummerSlam with Stone Coast Seabaws. 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:42.879 We don't want you in that, right, So I didn't 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.320 say nothing for the first two years. So I was 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.639 wrestling and I started to kind of get better and 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.120 better and better at it. And then the junior year, 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:57.360 I actually was in the City City Championships and took 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.639 third place. Okay, and my my mother, I was flipping 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.960 through we had a of course, the channel in the 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:06.200 city of the City channel. My mom was slipping through 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.280 the television and she saw me wrestling on that. Oh 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.560 so you got I got home over TV. Oh yeah, 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.440 so I got home. By that point, now it was 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.360 already too late. I was. I found something, and so 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:20.640 you know, at that point she was able to talk 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.040 my dad down and say, Okay, let's let him keep 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.320 doing this. And so the next year I think that 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:28.600 summer I made the decision in my mind that I 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:31.679 wanted to be good at something, okay, because I had 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:33.840 ups and downs. I would win something, I would lose something, 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:35.720 and then I got sick of it. I said no, 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.520 in order for me to ensure that I continue to win, 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.120 I need to do something that I haven't been doing right, 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.679 And so I dedicated myself fully to it. And it 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:50.120 was just the trajectory that I saw in my career 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.879 at that point was astronomical. So I said, I'm not 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.760 turning backwards. Did your mom understand that this could be 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.199 an opportunity that could help you get an education that 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.800 they wouldn't have to finance. That you could get a scholarship, 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:05.760 go to school, get get an engineering degree, or towards 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:10.000 a lawyer or pharmacy, pharmacist. That's why they let me 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.600 stay in there as we discovered that, hey there's scholarships 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.000 for these things. Yeah, all right, you could keep doing that. 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.160 Then you can keep doing that because now you don't 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.199 have to cost this so much, right, I mean, and 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:23.480 all my brothers we all had scholarship, We all had 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.080 My whole family was ex athletes, so we all had athletes. 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:32.159 My my oldest brother, Cash, who is a pharmacist doctor, 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.679 Cash actually said he but he was a semi pro 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:38.400