Kamaru Usman

Kamarudeen Usman is a Nigerian-American professional mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler, born in Auchi, Nigeria, on 11 May 1987.¹² He won the UFC welterweight championship in 2019, defended it five times in a division-record 15-fight win streak, and lost it in 2022; he is widely considered one of the greatest welterweights in MMA history.¹ Before MMA he was an NCAA Division II national champion wrestler.¹

Usman was born in Auchi, Edo State, and emigrated with his family to Dallas, Texas, when he was eight.¹ At the University of Nebraska at Kearney he became NCAA Division II national champion at 174 pounds in 2010 and a three-time NCAA Division II All-American, and he was a member of the 2010 US University World Team.¹ In MMA he won The Ultimate Fighter 21 tournament in 2015.¹

On 2 March 2019, at UFC 235, Usman beat Tyron Woodley by unanimous decision to win the UFC welterweight championship.¹ He defended the title five times — Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, Gilbert Burns, Masvidal again and Covington again — building a 15-fight win streak, the longest in the division's history.¹ On 20 August 2022, at UFC 278, Leon Edwards knocked him out in the fifth round to take the title; he also lost the rematch in March 2023.¹ He took his nickname "The Nigerian Nightmare" from American football player Christian Okoye, whose nickname it was, with Okoye's blessing.¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum. The English article's only faith statement reads: "Born to a Muslim father and Christian mother, Usman identifies as a Muslim."¹ The Arabic article mirrors the same sentence, and Wikidata carries no religion value for him at all.³² A father's faith is family background, and the statement itself names no school; because no source names a school (Sunni) for him personally, his school is recorded in the museum's data as unknown.¹²

• Kamaru Usman — English Wikipedia¹
• Kamaru Usman — Arabic Wikipedia³
• Kamaru Usman — Wikidata Q21290332²