The featherweight division is going to see a clash between Cub Swanson and Andre Fili at UFC 303. Both the fighters are impeccable in their game and seem to have had hardships growing up. The 33-year-old featherweight fighter with a record of 23-11-0 went through hardships, just like his opponent. Fili, or ‘Touchy’ as the UFC world knows him, is from America but has a unique ethnicity.

The fighter was born on June 25th, 1990, and is a massive success, given his harsh childhood experiences and perseverance. Let’s take a look at his family and ethnicity.

What is Andre Fili’s ethnicity and nationality?

He was born in Federal Way, Washington, U.S., and by nationality, is an American. As for his ethnicity, he is Samoan and Hawaiian. The featherweight contender has been a pro since 2009 and has 10 wins by KO and 3 by submission. He started training when he was 14 to be recognized and famous. He also had a pretty rough childhood, which might have made him stronger.

Having to give up a lot of things and being an “angry kid” who needed an outlet, he chose combat as his remedy whenever something happened. Andre Fili grew up in a broken household and saw a lot of tribulations. He grew up in a broken home where his mother was their primary caregiver and his father was frequently in and out of jail. His father is of Samoan descent and has a huge physique which made him have an upper hand on his wife and kids.

Fili had seen violence from a tender age as young as 7 and he had anger issues because of the same. Let’s take a look at his childhood life and see what made him who he is today.

All we know about Andre Fili’s parents

Fili saw a broken home growing up where both his parents were violent against each other and even their children. The house was mostly run by his beleaguered mother, and his father was frequently in prison. His father was so violent that when he came home from prison, he would beat up Fili’s mother and a 7-year-old child saw his mother get hurt. This made Fili angry and fierce because, since his dad was abusive towards his mom, he faced the same brutality sometimes because of his mother in return. The house was chaotic at its best and once he was old enough; he started going out on his own and searched for trouble.

He also lied to his friends, who came from the same background, that this pain did not impact him. In an interview with Yahoo, he revealed his secret, saying, “I can talk honestly about it now, and I can see the truth now, and what was going on. If you had asked me when I was young if it bothered me and I had too much of an ego to say the truth, I’d have bull[expletive] and said it did not. It did affect me a great deal, though. I can talk about it now because I understand it.” 

Fili felt ashamed that he could not do anything. His father was a huge Samoan person who had more physical strength than his mother and used it for violence. Fili used to take his younger sister and tried to keep her safe and since he was just a child, he could not protect his mother. However, every cloud has a silver lining and Fili’s life changed in 2009 when he moved to Sacramento to join Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male. 

The fighter also apparently reconciled with his father in 2019 after 17 years of not seeing him. Fili gave all credit to Faber for taking him out of the dark space and giving him a dream. “Urijah invested in me when there was almost nothing worth investing in,” Fili said to MMA Junkie. ‘Touchy’ added, “And to be able to make him proud and make the team proud and represent in our city, I can’t put it into words. It’s one of the best feelings I ever had.”

He also had some hardships while training under the UFC. At one point he was supposed to fight Lucas Almeida, at UFC Vegas 70, but had to get surgery in his right eye because of gradual loss of vision. However, all that is now in the past as the 33-year-old is set to fight Cub Swanson at UFC 303. Who do you think will win the bout? Drop your pick in the comments below.