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Kamaru Usman’s father was imprisoned for seven years, and watching Usman fight from prison was his only hope for survival. He was sent to prison because of pharmaceutical fraud by the paramedics working for his ambulance service company.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” Kamaru Usman is one of the greatest welterweight champions, and the way he’s been carrying out his legacy, he is certainly a future Hall of Famer. Behind this incredible success, there is a tragedy that Usman kept in his heart for all these years, but finally, he came forward and talked about this on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Related: The reality behind Kamaru Usman’s controversial STEROID USE accusations

Kamaru Usman talks about his father on JRE

When Kamaru Usman came over to the United States at the age of eight along with his parents, his father Muhammad Usman took on a career in pharmaceuticals, but unfortunately, he was arrested and landed in prison for 180 months and was charged the restitution of $1.3 million. This event occurred in 2010; his father completed his sentence and was released in February 2021.

After years of silence about his father’s incarceration, Usman finally opened up about it on the Joe Rogan Experience. However, he blamed the United States justice system and claimed that his father was falsely accused. According to Usman, the paramedics who worked for his father’s company were at fault. They committed pharmaceutical fraud without his father’s knowledge.

Moreover, they even admitted to committing those crimes. Unfortunately, Usman’s father was punished for his ignorance on the matter. The court blamed him solely because he was the owner and as such had to bear the responsibility of the fraud. He was sentenced to a 15-year sentence.

Kamaru Usman’s father used to watch his fight in prison

Over the past seven years, whenever UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman used to fight, the minimum-security camp would turn into a full-fledged cheering section. Every inmate would come together and watch Usman fight. They were instructed to maintain a minimum noise level, but during Usman’s fight, this rule was overlooked.

It was because of this very reason that Usman asked UFC to never book his fight on a pay-per-view because the facility would not have purchased it. His arch-nemesis Colby Covington taunted him on this, he said Usman isn’t a pay-per-view fighter, and he won’t ever feature on one. When Usman won his last fight against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261, it was the first time his father watched his fight live.

It was a very emotional moment, as Usman’s whole family was there. He wrapped the belt around his waist and celebrated in the best way possible. His father said, “I honestly can’t say there was anything else we looked forward to more,” says Dee Ray, an inmate in 2007-13 and 2017-20. “Nothing could replace that. That was a time when everyone came together — Black, white, and Mexican — and enjoyed the festivities. It kind of put us in the arena, so to speak. We didn’t think about what we were going through during that time.”

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Kamaru USman’s father went to prison because of alleged pharmaceutical fraud.

Kamaru Usman blamed the US justice system for his father’s incarceration.

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