The current UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman is a worldwide superstar. Usman is one of the most dominant fighters in the UFC. With an impressive record of 19-1-0, Usman also tops the UFC Pound-for-pound rankings. But, the journey from a nobody to a UFC champion was not easy for the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’. One of the major setbacks of his career is his father, Muhammad Usman imprisonment in 2009.
For Usman, his father’s absence early in his career was a very hard phase. The fighter had to suffer a lot for that. After remaining silent about it Usman finally decided to disclose the incident.
Why did Kamaru Usman’s father go to jail?
In the interview with Joe Rogan’s podcast, Usman opened up about everything that happened and led to the incarceration of his father.
After coming into the United States his father started working in the pharmaceutical business. But in 2009, the SWAT Team and Federal agents arrested Usman’s father, Muhammad Usman. He was charged with multiple criminal charges of healthcare-related frauds and illegal ownership of the ambulance company. After the investigation, Muhammad Usman was found guilty. This resulted in him 180 months of prison time along with a $1.3 million fine.
Usman believes the US judiciary system didn’t do its job correctly and was unfair to his father as he was an immigrant. He said, “goes to test the justice system here, man… it’s so crooked and so backward “. Usman revealed that his father owned an ambulance company and he hired some people who knew about the business as they were offering help to his father to grow the business. But, those people ran the company to the ground and did some illegal activities to grow. Being the owner of the company, Usman’s father couldn’t escape the law. ” The court said is that “Oh because you own the company, ignorance is not an excuse. So because of that, we’re going to sentence you to 15 years,” said Usman.
Kamaru Usman didn’t fight on pay-per-view events for his father:
During this time whenever Usman had a fight in UFC, his father and other prison inmates used to see Usman fight and cheer for him. Now, since the prison facility won’t have PPV purchased, Kamaru asked UFC to never book his fight on a pay-per-view event.
Muhammad Usman got out of prison in February this year. He finally saw Kamaru knocking out Jorge Masvidal to defend his title live. As a celebration, Kamaru wrapped the belt around his father’s waist.