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Mark Ray money for ESPN joined today by the one and only thema gimbo Zimbabwe’s own of course you fight Pete Rodriguez on February 3rd at the Apex UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas thenba I have a lot that I want to ask you you know we we’ve talked here and there but I have not actually asked you everything about you know that’s going on in your life and and what’s going on back uh back home the things that you’re doing for the people back home um but first I want to ask you a little bit about uh last weekend Toronto driguez dupes from South Africa train in South Africa he brings the UFC middleweight title back home to South Africa how do you feel about this look honestly it’s inspiring what happened last week with drias you know it’s it’s something uh that is very rare to happen and um you know he made it happen and you know it just comes down to his work ethic and his self-belief for himself and you know like it’s it is amazing what happened you know I I really really was inspired you know knowing that I I have trained and that I have been in the we’ fought on the same organizations I was the waterweight champion when he left to go to the middleweight and then I became the waterweight champion and for for that fight actually I trained with him and yeah it’s just it’s just a blessing that you know you get to see people achieving their goals and their dreams for me it’s nothing but inspiring that you know what it can be done you know I’m I’m here now also and I’m fortunate enough to be in the UFC already and I’m going for this same goal that is that is to become the UFC worldwe champion have you um you say you train with him a lot or or just for that one training camp uh yeah it’s like cross training like me and him we used to link up on Thursdays in train uh so yeah man um I had my own gym so I used to train in my own gym but on Thursdays I would train with him so it is it is it is a blessing that you know for him to achieve his his dream it’s nice to see and it’s something that is out of this world and it’s yeah man dreams do come true you have this big fight coming up against Pete Rodriguez tell me a little bit about the opponent and uh what’s going on in your life because when you first moved to the United States it was very different than where you are right now uh for me like you know I’ve got this big fight coming up with pet Rodriguez who I truly respect and for taking the fight firstly you know and I believe he’s going to he’s going to come out there gun blazing uh for the fight with everything that has happened right in my life and the all the changes you know firstly I give that to God and thank him for the for the blessings and secondly I want to thank Ben Johnson for all the help that he has given me and the platform that he’s given me to go out there and be able to live here with my family and everybody who supports me truly from the that is my wife and my two daughters you know it’s always a blessing to be waking up every day and seeing them before I go to training and it just keeps on motivating me and I keep I keep working hard I’m already hard worker naturally and for them to just see them being happy like that and being here it’s a blessing so it just motivates me to work work even harder you know I’ve been a hard worker before this and can you imagine what has been happening now leading up to this fight I mean I’ve been working so hard that sometimes I wonder where the energy is coming from you know and it will it’ll come to show when the Night Comes I I do want to ask you about about Dwayne Johnson The Rock and uh just a few days ago he was named to the board of directors of TKO right so he’s he’s kind of like the boss right now a little bit in in some respects for the UFC and WWE but few months ago back in July I know that he did something very special and I want to ask you about that just to kind of set it up so when you you came to United States from Africa and I know you’re from Zimbabwe you were training in South Africa you came to the states with just a few bucks right $7 and change under eight with you and that is something that touched Dwayne Johnson because he was in a similar position a very long time ago where he had $7 to his name and that’s that’s where his production company comes from seven bucks Productions and that was it touched him your story so tell me how this all came together cuz it was a surprise for you so tell me how all this came together and and what was that surprise like back last summer so first I want to clarify this you know I didn’t come to America with seven bucks on the day of the fight I had seven bucks in my account after buying the medicine because I was sick on the day of the fight when I fought Takashi I got sick in the morning then I you know I decided to buy medicine and I was left with seven bucks $749 in my bank account and I decided to take a screenshot of that because I said to myself this is quite tough you know I didn’t have money to buy breakfast for that morning uh for me and my team and it was just like you know very sad moment but you know I had to go and fight because you know my B is against the wall I was coming off that loss uh so my begging was really against the war and I decided you know what I’m going to take a picture of this $749 that I have in my bank account and later on when I go out there and perform and win and become become the winner and I get the bonus that’s the 50k I want to post this that this is where I was in the morning and look at me now I have the extra 50k you know unfortunately didn’t happen that I got the 50k after the fight because I didn’t perform very well I was sick I won and I’m very grateful of the win you know every win counts in this life and you must be celebrating every win that you have and um I was I was very very very happy and you know what I decided to still share the story of me having seven bucks in the morning and um you know because a lot of people would have been broken in that situation lot of people would be like wondering where they can be where they will be you know especially when the circum I was under being so sick on the day of the fight on a fight that it’s a must-win fight you know um showing that you know that type of resilience and going out there and becoming Victorious is just something that is inspiring and I wanted to share that and then D Johnson uh one of he actually said to me when when he did the surprise and everything that he did for me he said to me thank so one of the guys that he works with he says thank this guy because he’s the one that saw your post and he showed me and you know those are things that um are rare to find it a it’s just even him like how I look at it like in this life God plans this life before we are here just for him to be in the same position that I was in to have seven bucks it’s rare right um then for me to be in the seven bu situation too it’s rare so just like God put these two puzzles together and for him to be in the position where he helped me so much you know I I I I don’t I don’t think it’s a normal situation I think it’s just showing that God really does exist and it’s a miracle and I’m blessed to be in this position and I’m very super grateful and yeah man it’s it’s it’s been nothing nothing should but a but a blessing to be here right now and um yeah man that’s why I’m always grateful of the good and the bad you know I was in a bad situation where I was broke but look what happened after that because of that same situation and one day a time I hope someone can get inspired by my story so I want I want to go back a little bit because you know you had the fight of course you had 749 you won the fight biggest win of your career so far but you were still you were still sleeping on the floor right in the gym at MMA Masters couch on the couch on the on the couch on the couch at MMA Masters uh how did that come about and like that could not have been very comfortable for you super comfortable come on bro I come from Zimbabwe when I grew when Me growing up I never when we slept on the floor at times you know yeah rasa something something like made of RS where we sleep on so being on the couch it’s super comfortable bro like come on I people think about suffering and all that stuff when I hear some people talking about the suffering and stuff I I don’t judge but I just kind of like in my heart I’m like I guess these people have not been in situations where there is like and where I come from we suffered right but um there is some real suffering to a degree as well that is way wor than where I was and when I see some people complaining about things and certain situations for me I’m just looking and I look to the side normally just feel like I guess the people don’t know exactly what it is like to be suffering so like when I sleeping on the couch for me what happened is that I messaged coach Daniel V and said to him hey I want to come and train in America and I want to find myself after the loss you know I want to find myself and just be away from everybody and come and train then he said to me we don’t have rooms so there’s rooms at the gym said to me we don’t have rooms in the gym where you can actually sleep um unless you wait until this day then you can come then I said to him no no no I want to come I want to come there I can sleep on the m i don’t mind I just want to get away and find myself I said okay Co come then I went there then they said to me ah there’s a couch there if you want to sleep on the couch then I say oh thank you that’s a plus so I made my corner where I slept on the couch and for me I’m not here to to to have a luxury in life um it will come with with with things that that that happen with the winds that are coming and more and more things that are coming but I’m not here for that I’m here to be a champion I want to be the champion and I in my heart I am a champion already I’ve been a champion before and once and always you can always be the champion again and that’s what I’m here for that’s what drives me I’m not here to try and be living good looking like a superstar like other people have got different drives and I don’t judge nobody my drive is to become the UFC waterweight champion and I’m going to do anything and everything in my power to make sure that happens and I’m going to control my destiny and I I I wouldn’t mind even right now to sleep on the couch I wouldn’t mind right now to to do to do this all over again let me ask you about sleeping on the couch because how does that work you’re at the gym right the mats are kind of all around you right you’re in the corner people people are coming in at what time like you get up you know brush you know brush your your teeth watch your face at the gymm like how does shower how does that work so like uh it’s not right at the bot the gym has got two floors so it’s upstairs where the the couch is so basically what what I would do I mean it’s in the corner they in the beginning it was a little bit chaotic like people would make noise they’re not used to having someone in the place where they used to thing and but with time you know everybody started respecting and be like you know a little bit silent but it is difficult to sleep on a place where every everybody kinds of like pass around and you’re trying to prepare for the fight and everything like that so it was a little bit difficult in the beginning you know but um it is life life you have to face challenges and sometimes to a degree where you are sleeping on the couch and do what you got to do to get what you want in life and yeah it was just it’s a a it’s a passage it’s a place where everyone can pass through any time you don’t have privacy but I’m I’m a guy that waks up very early well no matter where I am I wake up every morning at 4 a.m. latest so yeah at 4 a.m. latest yeah no matter where I am no matter what time I sleep if I sleep at 12 I’m working up at 4:00 a.m. so it does not matter where I am so I would work up and do my work before other people and then get my breakfast and stuff like and still do work before the team training again so this is my rle I I don’t want to give away much about how I do my things but I do work extremely hot and yeah man so set the for me it’s uh it’s July of 2023 and they sit you down for what you’re told is like a video interview like a video shoot right but it wasn’t just a video shoot tell me about this yeah so they kind of lied to me there they they they say to me uh they is an interview with the people from The Rock and um they want to interview you and some of his security guys will come through and try to T the area and he’ll probably come maybe next month or when you come back from Africa because I was supposed to leave for Africa the following time and they say oh then I said okay cool no problem then I did the interview um then uh when I did the interview when I was doing the interview then you know the lady was asking me a little bit of like very emotional questions that you know I was really really really like attached to the interview and stuff like that that I didn’t even notice that she was behind me and um yeah man it was very yeah they are smart they were smart they played me uh but it’s it’s it was a blessing you know um yeah yeah even thinking of it you know I I you know the video that I posted about the whole thing and everybody posted I actually try not to watch that video because if I watch it every time I would watch that video I end up crying so I don’t I don’t want to watch I don’t want to watch that video because I know exactly how I was feeling in that moment in time and um yeah I I I try not to watch the video because yeah yeah yeah it is it is tough it is quite tough yeah it is it’s not tough like it’s a blessing of course but for me me mentally you know knowing where I was you know for other people it’s easier to watch it for me I know exactly the feeling I had and you know when you live when you live the moment and you relive it what happened always happen you know I cried that day and you know I I don’t want to people cry yeah but it’s life so you he you know you turn around and he’s there and it’s one of those things where you’re not expecting to see him but you see him what is that what is that emotion like and like when does it like like when does it hit you that it’s him and tell me about what happens next after that too yeah man you can watch this young kid it was a little bit tough um it is tough uh because you know what I didn’t expect him to be there firstly uh but also like you know it’s just like you brother like would you think somebody like him would just come show up even I didn’t know anything and everything that was going to happen and everything can you imagine if they told me everything that was going to happen and then my man I would have fored or died there you know because it’s just like surreal you know like because I know what kind of people like like people at that level uh even myself I’m very busy with my training and my schedule I don’t even sometimes find time to be doing certain things for him to make time to just come there and show up you know even if it was for a one second or whatsoever it’s it’s it’s something it’s something out of this world many people wish to be in that position that’s why I am super grateful of this life and everything that happened and you know because you know if you take things for granted they’ll be taken away from you very quickly and I take that moment to my heart forever uh and it’s a blessing to be able to be supported by a person like himself uh you know and we should probably say what came next right he he got you a house right he got you a place to live not not the corner of the gym on the couch anymore yeah man it’s it’s crazy how this life Works my brother it’s it’s super crazy um yeah I I didn’t expect that like yeah man you’re going to make Meemo I have got to fight next week let’s yeah let’s try yeah let me try focus a little bit before the fight okay I don’t want I don’t want you after the fight yeah have you um I’m curious have you spoken to him at all since then have you guys been in contact yeah yeah yeah I do I do I’m in contact with DJ uh um yeah every time also like I said you know every time he would message me it’s it’s he he messages you like midnight or I don’t know what time where he is whatever time is like for me you know and you wake up and you see this message you know you go run you go do something and you are more motivated you know and you know he he messages me some sometimes just you know to just wish me you know luck and say to me he always reminds me though one thing that he always does remind me at the end of his message he like hey remember you have to put in the work and that always is in the back of my head you know and you know for him to be where he is right now he had to work so hard to be there and he understands what comes with certain things you know some people get complacent and don’t work hard they think life is great now brother I want to tell you something my whole life I’ve always been a hard worker but ever since this whole thing happened my wife EIC has gone to a level where I I I must sometimes sit down and look at myself I’m like what’s going on where am I getting this energy you know it’s just I think everything happened for a big reason and we’ll find out tell tell me a little bit about uh and this is the last thing and I know you’re you’re busy in Camp but tell me a little bit about some of the things that you’re doing to give back to your your people you know in in Zimbabwe because you were you at the the fighters only World MMA Awards just a few weeks ago and you were talking about that you won an award there tell me a little bit about this look uh those things that I do back in my country you know it’s just things that come with um with um with moments and times like I think of things that I want to do like I If if I if time and life and everything allows it I want to do bigger things in my country you know uh because I know the circumstance that my country is in and things can be better but you know what instead of complaining and pointing things and say things are not where they are because of them or here or her or whatsoever I I would rather add value you know and do what what I can with what I have so like let’s say with the water where the the b in my Village it’s only came about when I discovered that I had bazia you know and I realize I know when I contaminated bazia when I was still young when I was 13 years old I contaminated bazia and I was scared to use to to treat it and I thought it was gone but you know when and that’s um sorry interrupt you just so people know that’s something when you when you drink dirty water right that’s like a the dis yeah it comes from drinking swimming or or that has to do with water you in Africa it’s a major thing and when I found out that I had that and I know I knew that hey I I’m lucky that this doctor find out that I have this but you know what there’s many other people that are in this same circumstance with time you think of the next thing that you want to do you know when I was there visiting my Village and it was a long time before I was visiting my Village for me to be there you know I went there visited and saw all the grannies and all the old people there one thing that touched me was seeing my uncle who is 92 and he’s fit and like he very fit okay scared to go to his house but one thing it does not have is the eyesight and it’s due to Cataract and um I I had one of the boys that used to train in my gym that I C and it was fixed and I real oh it’s a fixable thing and I said to myself you know what after my next fight I want auction my kid and be able to go out there and and fix his eyes side and fix few other people that are in the village that can see fix because trust me it’s a lot of money to things that stuff if you are in that circumstance in the village those guys can’t even afford to get $100 can you imagine trying to get, or $2,000 to fix C Tru bro it’s it’s it’s a it’s a no no they would rather live with it because they can’t afford to fix it so that’s that’s that’s my mission that was my mission and you know Dustin por helped me and that he donated $10,000 that’s great the CA and after the fight I’m going to draw that I still want to auction my fight kit like I will always do something with my fight kit that is to help where I come from so the how many um do you know how many water walls you you’ve been able to to get so far I’ve done four four and you want to do more this year right uh I’ve done that part now it’s I’m not going to continue doing that it’s quite a mission to do that and sometimes if they break because sometimes guys just come to me and say they can fix it they can do it and then if they break it’s a mission for me to be calling and trying to follow up on people you know I try to do things that luckily right now all of them are working but you’re going to you’re going to focus more on the on the cataracts the situation no uh the next one the next the cat is already fixed that’s that’s amazing the next one is big one for me that is something I thought about why is I was running few few weeks ago I was running you know these things these ideas come up when I’m doing my own thing running or training so I was running and thinking to myself you know what I passed my high school um sorry no you’re good yeah yeah so basically the next thing that I’m doing uh this one I’ll probably do my own money I want to build a library in my village with Sol panel so that the kids in my Village can be able in the surrounding Villages can be able to study at night after school because sometime they can’t study because they don’t money to buy paraffin or anything so this is what I’m going to be able to do on this next fight after this next fight I want to go out and build a library and maybe small gym for the older you know something that can entertain them but the main thing is to build a small Library that’s just to build a building and put solar panel and people can do whatever they want at night at that place and study kids especially must go there and study and and you know maybe one one person can be a genius from my Village due to this you know and it’s just small things small steps one step at a time try to make a difference and yeah that’s my next mission which I’m going to do with own money what I would do with my kit I don’t know uh I’m still to think about that but yeah the next mission is do the library in my Village amazing man paying it forward and uh we wish you all the best of course in this fight coming up against Pete Rodriguez should be a big one and everything else that you’re working on congrats man and and you’re really you’re really doing great things for the world so so thank you as [Applause] [Music] well [Music] oh