“GORIMBO”
(The Scars Of A Selfless Man)
He became an orphan at the age of 13.
He was almost killed by attack dogs for illegally mining diamonds at age 16.
He was deported from South Africa for illegally entering the country at age 18.
Few hours later he went back and almost got killed.
Gorimbo is a man full of scars both mental and physical.
It all started in small village in Zimbabwe called Maxvingo where Gorimbo hailed from.
He was only 9 when his mother died and barely 4 years later at age 13, he also lost his father.
This meant he had to hustle and take care of himself.
The hustle he choose was a dangerous one, it was illegally mining of Marange diamonds from the mining fields.
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One night, his luck ran out as he was caught by the police who instead of just arresting him released their German Shepherds on him and he was brutally attacked.
He was just 16 years old!!!
According to him, he lost so much blood and barely survived the attacks which left him with scars all over his body.
The experience only left him further motivated to make it in life but things got even worse for him.
Zimbabwe was hit with a drought that caused serious famine and hunger in the land, and it was at this point that he decided to cross the border into South Africa.
He was only 18 when he illegally got to South Africa without a passport, he was caught, put in a cell and was deported back to Zimbabwe.
He was further determined to get back to South Africa, and few hours later, he returned to South Africa border but this time instead of the police, he met criminals robbing illegal immigrants with big machetes.
They held the machete to his neck and he fainted out of shock, the criminals left him and chased after the other immigrants.
When he woke up, he wanted to go report himself to the police so they would send him back instead of face these criminals, but a friend encouraged him and together they entered South Africa.
In South Africa, he lived on the streets, giving out fliers for R20 rand a day so he could buy a drink and bread to eat.
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Luckily, he raised enough money to call his cousins in Cape Town and went there.
He worked as a gardener, painter, and security guard in Cape Town.
In 2010 at the age of 19, Gorimbo watched the movie “Never Back Down” and that changed his life forever.
He joined a local gym and learned martial arts and became an MMA fighter.
He competed in various tournaments and won several medals and trophies. He became known as “The Answer” for his ability to solve any problem in the cage.
In 2010 he made his MMA debut and amassed a record of 10 wins, 3 losses before signing for the EFC in 2018 where he won the EFC Welterweight championship in 2018.
He became one of the top MMA fighters in Africa defending his title twice and this earned him a move to the UFC.
He lived on a couch in the gym because he couldn’t afford a place and lack of training space.
Just before his first fight in the UFC against Sato which he won, he only had $7 in his account.
When he won, he auctioned off his kit and got $7000 but instead of spending it on himself, he used the money to open a bore hole in his village.
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