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by Andrew_Archive
Don't wanna make a big deal of it, and I also know jackshit about Usman other than basic internet facts, but... Like I said: The guy was born as Kamarudeen Usman in Nigera. Moved to the US at age eight (first to Texas, then Nebraska). In high school a wresting coach nicknamed him Marty and that's how he was known during his wresting career. For his MMA career he preferred to go by his Nigerian birth name.His nickname is "the Nigerian nightmare." He poses with the Nigerian flag. He's a black dude. From Nigeria. Who chooses to be called what his parents named him not what some high school wrestling coach in Nebraska nicknamed him. I'm assuming (correct me if wrong) that the Nebraska coach who renamed him was a white dude. I'm not saying this dude is Muhammad Ali and Askren is yucking it up calling him Cassius Clay. Odds are Usman could be every bit the dummy that "Funky" whiteboy Ben Askren says he is. Lots of great MMA fighters are idiots. Maybe most of them. But Askren's whole joke hinges on giving a proudly black dude a dumb white name to mock him. He's a white dude, who chose "Funky" as his nickname, who's getting kicks from renaming a black Nigerian dude against his will, reverting him back to the white name Usman's high school coach in Nebraska gave him. Seems to me you have to be a bit dense not to understand the racial dimensions to this. But again, whatever. It's UFC. They have "ring girls" and Dana White officially stumping for Donald Trump and whatnot. It's a place where stupidity and ignorance flourish.