From blood diamonds to MMA champ: how Themba Gorimbo fled Zimbabwe where he was almost killed by police dogs
- EFC welterweight champion has become one of the biggest MMA prospects out of Africa
- Orphaned by the age of 13, Gorimbo fled in 2008 from a ‘difficult’ life mining diamonds
Themba Gorimbo is one of the biggest MMA prospects out of Africa and is reportedly on the verge of being signed by the UFC. But his journey towards the top of the sport has been incredible, to say the least.
“The Answer” has racked up a 9-2 professional record, with 10 fights in South Africa’s Extreme Fighting Championship, where he is the promotion’s welterweight champion.
It’s a far cry from his childhood growing up in Zimbabwe, where life was “difficult, difficult, difficult”. He was an orphan after his mother died when he was nine, and his father died when he was 13. “My cousin was looking after us but it was not the life many people wish to have,” Gorimbo said in an interview with John Hyon-ko of Kumite TV.
At the age of 16 he started illegally mining diamonds in the fields and smuggling them.
“The money was nice but I almost got killed there,” he said. “If you look at my body, I’ve got scars everywhere because once I was confronted by the police and the dogs bit me so much. I had five dogs, German Shepherds, biting me. I almost died. I passed out there.”
