Themba Gorimbo says “cousins were celebrating my loss”
It took Vicente Luque just 51-seconds to knockout late replacement Themba Gorimbo (14-5) at UFC 310 last month in Las Vegas.
The 33-year-old fighter who was born in Bikita, Masvingo, Zimbabwe now says that some of his own family members back home have turned on him.
“Some of my cousins were celebrating my loss,” Gorimbo told The Pivot. “They were all celebrating my loss, and they sent me a video of them where we were in a place 15 years ago, this small circle in Danone … and these cousins of mine were celebrating my loss.
“Do you know how much that eats you?”
Gorimbo made headlines when he arrived in the UFC.
It was late July 2023, almost two months to the day after the African fighter’s first UFC victory and about four months after he traveled to the United States with essentially just the clothes on his back.
That’s when famed actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson surprised the fighter and his family with a brand-new home in Miami, Florida.
“All I try to do is [do] better for everybody,” Gorimbo explained. “I might not directly help you, but maybe I want to build a well for the community, then one person gets angry … someone will message me and say, ‘Will you give me [$5,000]?’
“People think that [because] I’m in the UFC, I’m a millionaire. I’m not. Maybe one day I will be, but it’s the reality I’m not and I cannot afford to do that. Imagine if you have 20 people coming you and saying the same stuff.”
