The build up to Themba Gorimbo’s fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight has been rough.
Zimbabwe’s Gorimbo, 33, has been one of the most inspiring stories in mixed martial arts (MMA) since his promotional debut in early 2023. Unfortunately for Gorimbo, his first Octagon appearance didn’t go his way when he suffered a second round guillotine choke defeat to AJ Fletcher. At UFC Vegas 92, he’ll look to extend his winning streak to three straight by taking out Ramiz Brahimaj this weekend (Sat., May 18, 2024).
Gorimbo (12-4) already had a lot of motivation ahead of his upcoming bout. It was only bolstered when he received some bad news earlier today (Wed., May 15, 2024).
Themba Gorimbo’s coach from South Africa, who has been with Gorimbo for 8 weeks, lost his mother today pic.twitter.com/BCyxNSE89H
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) May 15, 2024
“I’m going to win in spectacular fashion for my coach whose mother just died like two hours ago,” Gorimbo said at UFC Vegas 92 media day as he was overcome with emotion. “He’s been here with me for eight weeks. He tells me his mother is sick with cancer. If he told me it was that bad, I would just say to him, ‘Okay, after the fight, we go back to South Africa together.’ I didn’t have a plan to go there but I was gonna go with him to see his mother.
“I’m going to win for him,” he continued. “It is what it is. It’s not [weight] on my shoulders. I’ve been wanting to do that anyway because he sacrificed the past eight weeks of his life. Obviously, I pay him to be here, helping me get better with my wrestling and stuff, but I cannot bring his mother back.”
As Zimbabwe’s lone UFC fighter, Gorimbo has made it a goal to use his career as a positive platform for people aspiring to achieve their dreams while helping his home country. His recent charitable goal was to give back to his community by building a library.
Unfortunately, that plan hit a speed bump when he was taken advantage of during the process.
I spoke with @TheAnswerMMA today, who shared the unfortunate news that he was scammed out of money that he had planned on putting towards building a library in his native Zimbabwe.
He is using that as fuel to earn a performance bonus on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/IIAuhmUlZC
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) May 15, 2024
“Someone scammed me, man,” Gorimbo told Aaron Bronsteter. “So, I didn’t end up doing that. I lost $5,000 from the person that said they were going to buy the shorts. They sent me a proof of payment that was fake, a guy from England. They wanted me to send the kit to them.
“They sent money to someone in Zimbabwe, hypothetically, they just said they sent the money,” he continued. “That guy gave me the money then we already bought the bricks and some stuff to start the building of the library. Then a few days later, the guy told me the money has not cleared in the bank account and that it was a scam. So, the guy wanted me to send the stuff to him — I don’t know. I ended up losing money. I’m going to do it after this fight with my own money. It is what it is. It’s life. You learn sometimes expensive lessons.”
When asked where fans could support his cause, Gorimbo responded by saying he didn’t want to be a burden to people and would handle it all himself.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 92 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET.
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