Las Vegas
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Professional combined martial arts (MMA) fighter Themba Gorimbo is displaying off his intense coaching routine on social media and grappling with world class wrestlers to elevate his abilities after a devasting defeat in November. His life story is a testomony to resilience and reinvention within the wake of maximum adversity.
In 2023, at 32-years-old, He made historical past when he grew to become the primary Zimbabwean to win an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout within the United States. But even his sporting success can not lay to relaxation the recollections of his painful childhood.
“I was in the diamond fields in Zimbabwe, smuggling diamonds, selling diamonds, getting beaten by police. You see, I’ve got dog marks all over my whole body. I’ve been bitten by dogs, almost died at the diamond fields,” Gorimbo instructed NCS’s Larry Madowo throughout an interview in Las Vegas.
He vividly remembers the day the army arrived. Gorimbo was 16. In October 2008, miners working on the Marange diamond fields in jap Zimbabwe got here underneath fireplace. The nation’s army launched a brutal operation, dubbed “Hakudzokwe” or “no return,” to seize management of the fields and ban native miners.
“That was hard because, bro, even the brave guys like myself, I didn’t want to be there because you’d run, soldiers would chase you, and as this soldier gets tired, a new soldier is coming. And as these people are tired, the helicopters is … you know, bro, that was scary,” he recounts.
According to Human Rights Watch, over the course of three weeks, the army assault resulted within the deaths of greater than 200 folks. The Zimbabwean authorities denied its troops carried out killings in Marange.
A lifetime of hardship
Gorimbo’s mom died when he was 9, and his father when he was 13, and he relied on the kindness of family to survive. But when financial hardship, simply certainly one of many the nation skilled since 1992, hit Zimbabwe, even his prolonged household struggled. Successive droughts in 2002-2003 which fueled persistent starvation finally drove him to the mines.
“There was a big drought in Zimbabwe. That was probably the hardest year that I can remember where food was, you eat one meal a day. So, what was the next available thing? The diamonds. God blessed us with the diamonds. It’s 40 minutes away from my village… you can take a ride and go and smuggle these diamonds and sell them and make money, and at least you have food every day. So, I went to the diamonds for this,” he mentioned.
His survival intuition was so robust that even the army assault didn’t discourage him “I went back 10 days later, with my scars not healed,” Gorimbo recalled in a textual content to NCS.
Seeking a greater life in South Africa
Just a few months after the army assault, as his wounds healed, Gorimbo left Zimbabwe seeking a greater life. “I went to South Africa, got deported straight away. The same day, I went back … I almost got killed there the second time around. First time too, because first time we went through the river,” he defined.
Asked why he returned after being deported, he mentioned, My mother and father died after I was very younger … “what was I going to go back to Zimbabwe to do”?
But life in South Africa introduced new challenges. Gorimbo was homeless, generally sleeping in a church with others who had entered the nation illegally. After doing odd jobs, he discovered work as a gardener, making 80 rand — lower than $5 a day. Some of that cash, he says he despatched again to household in Zimbabwe.
Turning a love for combating right into a profession
A film that includes combined martial arts ignited Gorimbo’s ardour for combating. Inspired, he determined to strive the game, however getting correct coaching wasn’t low cost.
“I worked as a security guard, and I used my money from there to pay for gym memberships and to try to pay coaches to train me privately as well,” he mentioned. Gorimbo mentioned he was working a 17-hour shift at a grocery retailer in South Africa, and wasn’t making sufficient cash to pay for personal classes, however he was decided to get the coaching he wanted.
That willpower paid off. In 2010, he grew to become an novice MMA fighter, turning skilled three years later.
“The most important thing is the mind. I think if your mind is ready for everything, you can prepare physically, but if your mind is not ready, it’s not ready. And I’m a good fighter. I believe so. I’m not the best, but I make it work with what I have,” he mentioned.
From South Africa to the UFC
In late 2022, Gorimbo arrived within the United States with little cash, sleeping on a sofa on the MMA Masters health club in Miami, Florida. Just months later, he made his UFC debut in February 2023, battling A.J. Fletcher, a struggle he misplaced. He gained his second bout in opposition to Takashi Sato in May 2023.
After his victory, he posted a screenshot of his checking account, revealing he had lower than $8. “When I posted the $7.49 I did not have $7.49 anymore because my money was coming on Monday, you know, I was getting paid. I was happy, but I posted it as a way of just like, ‘you know what? You can be down and out, but if you stay positive, you can become anything and you can go up.’ And I did that just as a way to inspire people,” he defined.
Wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was so impressed by the revelation he shocked Gorimbo by shopping for him a home in Miami. The submit resonated with Johnson who after being reduce from the Canadian Football League within the Nineties, moved again house with solely $7 in his pocket which fueled his drive to reach wrestling and flicks. The two have stayed shut.
“I’m blessed enough that, you know, the Rock picked me up … helping me and all the things that he does for me…. And behind the scenes… this guy supports me a lot,” Gorimbo says.
Aiming for the UFC championship
From the lethal diamond mines of Zimbabwe to the UFC octagon in Las Vegas, Gorimbo’s journey has been extraordinary. To date he has four wins and three losses within the UFC.
“My life is a movie. I believe it is pre-written by God; I just happen to be the main actor in it,” he instructed Madowo. And his position isn’t over but. “I want to be a champion, and I believe I’m going to be a champion,” he mentioned, including that he hopes to get there by “praying, working hard, staying focused, staying grounded, focusing on positivity, focus(ing) on my family, … [and] be open-minded to learning new skills.”