issue 223
November 2025
Before championship belts were on the line, the world's greatest fighters were locked in their own battles. Isaac Barnett delves into the gritty and inspiring MMA origin stories that forged these warriors into the legends they are today.
KAMARU USMAN – OUTWORKING HARDSHIP
He was born on May 11, 1987, in Auchi, Nigeria, where he was raised by his mother, a teacher, and his father, a soldier in the Nigerian army. Usman and his two brothers spent their time farming and helping their mother run a small convenience store. When Usman turned eight, his father joined the United States military through an immigration program and got the family visas to emigrate to Dallas, Texas.
Speaking on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel, Usman said: “My father dared to take that chance, to go to a foreign land and create an opportunity for his family. I will be grateful for his choice forever.”
Usman struggled to adapt to Dallas life, often being teased because he was enrolled in an ESL class to help him adjust from British to American English.
“Kids are cruel, they made it seem like it was the special class, because English was a second language, that simulation was really tough for me, but you’re kids. You roll with the punches, and as long as you’ve got food in your belly and love, you don’t really care.”
He joined his school's football team, but wasn’t naturally athletic, and at the end of the season, his coach encouraged him to take up wrestling to improve his strength. He quit football and wrestled full-time.
Despite having some ability, Usman was behind his training partners, but he drew on the work ethic instilled in him from an early age.
Speaking on the True Geordie podcast, Usman said: “I started later than everyone else. These guys knew all the moves and how to train, so I thought to myself, ' How can I close the gap?’ So, during the summer when these guys just hung out, I kept working and training. I closed the gap so quickly on these guys because I was willing to work.”
He compiled a 53-3 record at the senior level and wrestled in college, where he became the NCAA Division II national champion at 174lb with a 44-1 record. This put him on the radar of the United States Olympic team, where he became a resident of the United States Olympic Training Centre. Sadly, injuries kept him out of the 2012 Olympics, but after training at MMA gyms and appearing on TUF 14 as a wrestling coach for Team Miller, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare” made the MMA transition.
DONALD CERRONE – EARNING THE NAME
Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone was born on March 29, 1983, in Denver, Colorado, where he lived with his parents, but he was raised by his grandfather, Dr Donald Cerrone, and his grandmother, Jerry.
“My grandparents raised me, and I grew up with a lot of money. I didn’t have a poor me upbringing. My grandparents loved me more than anything. I remember, as a kid, wanting to be a magician, so they bought me everything and took me to lessons. They just wanted me to be happy,” Cerrone told ESPN.
His grandfather ran a family practice in Denver, and Cerrone was often babysat there. They realized Cerrone was not like other kids. He was brash, loud, and full of energy, which caused him to be diagnosed with ADD and given a prescription that his grandfather shrugged off.
"My husband said whenever a kid is really intelligent and has an interest in life and is wild and runs around and does a bunch of things, they want to give him a pill to make him quiet. He wasn't quiet. He was just Cowboy," Jerry Cerrone told Si media.
He would get into street fights and spend plenty of nights in county jail. Once Cerrone turned 16, his mother and father divorced, and he was sent to live permanently with his grandparents. After high school, his behavior stabilized, and his grandparents influenced him to pursue a career in construction. This did not last, and ‘Cowboy’ earned his name by becoming a professional bull rider. He found his calling at 20 after being introduced to a Colorado kickboxing dojo, where he showed raw talent. He made a name for himself in kickboxing tournaments worldwide and claimed the only continent he had not fought on was Antarctica. After competing for three years, he was offered $5,000 to fight in an MMA.
“When I first started kickboxing, MMA wasn’t a thing. It was new, and I got offered my first MMA fight against a guy who was a purple belt. All I knew was striking. My grandpa bought me a house up in Vale, Colorado, and he hired a black belt to train with me. All I did was snowboard and train in Jiu-Jitsu.”
He quickly earned a 7-0 record, winning all his fights by submission, and earned a shot in the WEC, where he went on to become the legend he is today.
MACKENZIE DERN – LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
Mackenzie Lynne Dern was born on March 24, 1993, in Phoenix, Arizona. Her mother and Brazilian father, Megaton Dias, separated early, and she developed a close relationship with her dad, who was a decorated black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her father married Dern's stepmother, Luciana Dias, who was also a Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Her father would bring her along to the gym while he trained, and at the age of three, Dern began her journey in martial arts. Dern would often fly back and forth to Brazil with her father when he competed, and she became fluent in both Portuguese and English. She attended Ironwood High School, where she had some academic difficulties due to the travel. Despite this, her teachers were supportive, which helped her focus on her competitions. At 14, she outshone every kid her age and competed in adult tournaments, even beating men. She competed in her first World Championship in the blue belt Juvenile division at 14, claiming her first world-level gold medal. She went on to claim a world championship in every belt rank until her father awarded her a black belt at 19. Dern began training in wrestling techniques with MMA fighters to improve her grappling and started training in MMA. After three months and earning almost every accolade she could in Jiu-Jitsu, she switched to MMA.
Speaking on the Stories Untold podcast, Dern said, “I made the transition when I was 22, I completed all my goals in Jiu-Jitsu, I had two great years, and I won a lot of championships. My dad was against me going into MMA at first, but I had been training the ground game in gyms for a while to help with my Jiu-Jitsu, and people in the gym were saying, ‘Look at Ronda Rousey, you should try it.’ I wanted to get more girls into Jiu-Jitsu too, so I thought the exposure would be good because there wasn’t really a Jiu-Jitsu girl in the UFC at that time.”
This gamble paid off when Dern claimed the vacant UFC Women's Strawweight Championship in October 2025.
