UFC legend Jon Jones introduced his pal Kamaru Usman to MMA at a house party during their first year in college, leading to an iconic career.
The pair were close friends during their college wrestling days, with Usman travelling to visit Jones in Iowa where they went to watch MMA fights at a party. Both men would go on to become pound-for-pound greats in their respective eras, with Jones recently becoming a two-weight world champion and Usman having an unforgettable run with the welterweight belt.
Usman is currently taking some time out to deal with injuries after losing twice to Leon Edwards in title bouts, while Jones is preparing to face Stipe Miocic later this year in his first heavyweight title defence. But their storied careers may not have happened had it not been for a night with pals watching Randy Couture in college.
"My freshman year was the first time I saw the sport of Mixed Martial Arts on television," Usman told Mike Tyson on his Hot Boxin' podcast. "I was actually on my fall break, I went up to Fort Dodge in Iowa to visit my friend at the time Jon Jones who was a freshman in school there.
"So I go to visit him and while we're there we get invited to this house party by a friend of the team to come and watch fights. I was just like 'let's go' with my friends and we go to the house party to watch fights and it's cage fighting. I believe it was maybe Randy Couture fighting somebody.
"We're watching it and I'm there like 'these dudes are crazy, they're punching, kicking and elbowing each other,' and this guy goes 'you should do that' and me and Jon looked at each other like 'man, we ain't doing that s***.' No way in hell. That was the first time we ever saw fighting."
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Usman was then inspired by pals Joe and Jake Ellenberger, who were fighting as amateurs during their summer off-seasons, to get involved in the sport during a trip to train with 'King Mo' Lawal. He ended up meeting Rashad Evans, at the time the light-heavyweight champion, and learning that he could make serious money fighting, which was not possible in wrestling.
He then began to learn boxing with coach Barry Hunter at the Olympic Training Centre and decided he would attempt to make the Olympic team. But he soon realised that MMA was a better option, given his background in wrestling at the highest level while in college and high school.
Usman would only lose once in his professional career until last summer when he was knocked out by Edwards in a stunning rematch upset to lose his welterweight title. He returned in March for a trilogy bout and lost on points, meaning he now faces an uncertain future atop the sport.
