Themba Gorimbo was living in a gym in Miami six months ago. The UFC welterweight is a native of the southern African country of Zimbabwe and came to the United States with courage and determination to pursue his dream of becoming a UFC champion. With almost no money, the 32-year-old even had to sleep in the same MMA gym that he trained in.

After his story went viral, it came to the notice of WWE and Hollywood superstar Dwayne Johnson. Moved by his struggle and dedication to the sport, ‘The Rock’ proceeded to surprise Gorimbo with a house that he bought for the Zimbabwean. On a recent episode of his podcast, UFC commentator Daniel Cormier pointed out the parallels between Gorimbo and Francis Ngannou’s stories and had some useful advice for the newcomer.

Cormier feels Themba Gorimbo is one of the most inspiring stories in sports

On his podcast, Cormier said that Themba Gorimbo’s story of perseverance despite the abject poverty he was in was one of the best stories in all of sports. “Dwayne The Rock Johnson went viral after sharing a similar story ‘The Rock’ bought Themba a new house. Themba has one of the best stories to follow in MMA… And so I love his story. It’s one of the best stories not only in mixed martial arts but in sports overall,” he expressed.

The former two-division champion felt that Gorimbo, being the underdog, would also have the fans’ support like former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who comes from similar circumstances, received.

But also let’s not forget all of the other people that come from similar circumstances.. you really do root for a person that goes through something like that. We know what Francis went through to become who he is today,” he added. However, the former two-division champion felt Gorimbo’s story would not be complete without one very important ingredient.

‘DC’ feels Gorimbo needs to win as Francis Ngannou did

Daniel Cormier cautioned Themba Gorimbo that despite how moving his story was, was still a long way from being successful and reaching his full potential like Ngannou. The former heavyweight champion was able to leverage the prestige of being a UFC champion to become one of the biggest names in boxing in just one fight. Cormier told Gorimbo that he needed to win in order to prove himself.

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“And that’s a story of ultimate success but you got to win, you know. Because ultimately if you don’t then you just kind of go back to being a story and that cannot be. For as good as Themba’s story is, you have to win fights,” ‘DC’ added. What do you think about Cormier’s comments?

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