Last week, the UFC 271 tournament was held in Houston, USA. In the day's finale, current UFC middleweight champion Gold Belt holder Islyi Adisayah took the lead in a match against former champion Robert Whitaker to win the race by way of a juggling advantage.
However, during the day's match, I saw a boxer who was both familiar and unfamiliar, The Zimbabwean boxer Mike Mathetha, nicknamed "Blood Diamond".
He is familiar because Mike Matherha has participated in domestic martial arts competitions many times, and boxers who watch free-fighting matches in China will be impressed by him. He is strange because this boxer, who was not obvious in the martial arts competition at the beginning, has appeared in the world's first standing event Glory and the world's first mixed martial arts event UFC.
Mac Matherha was born on July 10, 1988 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Later he moved with his parents to Vangi. At first, Mac Matherha's life was good, but soon Zimbabwe's domestic situation began to be turbulent and the economy collapsed.
In an interview with reporters, Mike Matherha recounted how the situation in Zimbabwe has slowly changed, with poor economic conditions leading to frequent crime and riots.
"Sometimes going to school is really scary. There was a lot of commotion and they had to let me go to school again. ”
Realizing that the country was about to collapse, Mac Matherha decided to move his family to escape the chaos in Zimbabwe. As far away as Oceania, New Zealand became a hideaway for the family. "When I left the country of Zimbabwe, I was glad it was all over." Mike Matherha told reporters who interviewed him.
However, the new environment did not bring the life he wanted, and Mike Matherha thought that he would not be bullied again after moving to Oakland, but it was clear that his idea was too naïve. After several bullying incidents, Mac Maceha knocked on the door of the City Fighting Dojo and became a disciple of coach Eugene Balluman. Here, Mike Maseha and Isley Adisaya began systematically learning boxing, freehand fighting, and mixed martial arts.
Later, Mike Matherha competed in new Zealand boxing championships and won the second middleweight championship and won the New Zealand Free Fighting Championship. And because of the partnership between the boxing gym and The Chinese martial arts competition, Mike Matherha also got a steady chance to play. It's just that Mike Matherha was a nobody at the time, so he had to play a variety of roles according to the requirements of the event, he would be a South African boxing champion, a Zimbabwean fighting champion, and a New Zealand free fighting gold belt holder. The competitions participated in the 70 kg class to the undifferentiated class, and the opponents were both ordinary boxers such as Wei Gaojie and Yang Yu, as well as the strength and convenience of the martial arts competition. Liu Dacheng, Jin Pengpeng, Bai Lishuai, Sun Weiqiang, Qi Chenglong, Guo Xichuang, Zhao Chunyang and other boxers have appeared in the list of record records of "Blood Diamond" Mike, but at that time, Mike Matherha was obviously here to earn money, and in most cases he went home early.
But internationally, the IKBF New Zealand MiddleWeight Champion, the WMC New Zealand MiddleWeight Champion, the WKA New Zealand MiddleWeight Champion, and the King in the Ring 72KG Class Eight-Man Knockout Championship all prove that Mike Matherha is definitely not a clown for everyone, as we see.
Although he could not be compared in honor to his fellow disciple Brother Islyi Adisaya, Mike Matherha has been closely following in the footsteps of Isley Adisaya.
On October 21, 2016, in the 34th edition of the Glory in Denver, USA, Isley Adisaya made his Glory debut, and although he lost to the 2015 WKF intercontinental champion Richard Abraham by a judgment, his performance was still worthy of recognition.
In 2017, Mike Matherha began moving to the mixed martial arts (MMA) arena. After winning three straight wins, Mike Matherha won the UFC favor and made his UFC debut in the UFC 271, although this time Mike Matherha regrettably lost the game. But I believe that The current Mike Matherha is no longer the "blood diamond" you think.
Note: You can still think of boxers who are different from your own cognition, welcome to leave a message to discuss.
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