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00:03one of the best way to succeed in life is to study those who succeed and imitate them then
00:08look at those who fail and avoid their mistake talking about success mr. Jimmy manua is in the
00:13house and we're happy to have you mr. Jimmy nice to have you here today nice to meet you nice
00:18time
00:18so our viewers would like to know you know you started your career a bit late you know what
00:22really led to that well I think it was just a natural transition into mixed martial arts okay
00:29and my friend started to start to fight a few years before I started and so we used to go
00:42and watch
00:42him fight but everyone kind of knew that I was a natural fighter right in there so I used to
00:49go
00:49and watch you used to go and watch him and then like um everyone was saying oh when are you
00:54gonna
00:54start this is this is your your style when are you gonna start and I think well at the time
00:59I was
01:00into weightlifting and and those kind of things okay and that so unfortunately I had an injury weight
01:10lifting and now I tore my my pec muscle when I was doing my maximum lift okay and so during
01:18that recovery
01:18my mom asked my friends I said I let me come and try this mixed martial arts and everything so
01:24I went
01:25on a Monday I liked it we did kickboxing and stuff I like the physical aspect of it and that
01:31and then I
01:32went on a Tuesday and I we did jiu-jitsu and wrestling you know and I also like that as
01:37well so I
01:38went on a Wednesday on a Thursday and then on the Friday I said I said to my friend now
01:45get me a fight
01:46I like this get me a fight wow so he came back on the weekend and said okay I got
01:51your fight it's in
01:52two weeks so I didn't really have any much training than that so well where I knew I had a
01:57fight coming
01:58up I trained every day for the for the next two weeks until my fight and then um where everyone
02:05was excited for my fight I went to my debut it was a professional fight it wasn't even an amateur
02:11one
02:11is a bit like my first professional fight so um I went with about 20 cars full of all my
02:20friends
02:21yeah just to cheer you home yeah just to cheer me on because they knew that it was my kind
02:25of style
02:25it's just that so um I won that fight it was a great experience I was very very tired after
02:34the
02:34first round and that and um I beat I beat I beat him in the first round and I just
02:40remember recovering
02:42after the fight like all my adrenaline came down and everything I was like for about an hour I was
02:48out
02:48of breath for about an hour and then um yeah I liked it so much and I just carry I
02:53just carried
02:53on wonderful now you you were born in the United States of America yeah then raised in Lagos yeah
02:59I wouldn't say how much have those things impacted your career so far the way you were raised you
03:04know coming going to MMA yeah um I think growing up in Lagos I was very I was very active
03:13I've got
03:14nothing but good memories from from growing up in Lagos going to school in a papaya and living in
03:19Sulere and uh I've got nothing but good memories I was a very active child and everything so I think
03:28that impacted I was very adventurous and everything my my auntie my mum my dad can tell you loads of
03:35stories from me riding my bike and getting into mischief and I think that active and that adventurous
03:41uh streak in in my nature led to me having a solid uh fearless background you know fairly fearless
03:52mentality hmm and now yeah on the ship what you go into in the future yes I see you you
03:59were known as
04:00a knockout king how did you come about that nickname my name there was a poster boy and that and
04:07that came
04:07came from that came from I think my first fight when they gave me the posters to go and promote
04:14my
04:14fight and everything yeah the poster boy yeah moving on from that um I wanted to be the poster boy
04:20of
04:22mixed martial arts where I came from yeah and that you know and um all the knockouts translated into that
04:30name as well you know because everyone knew that everyone knew that when they come to see me fight
04:36that is nothing but excitement and and um what's the word if you can use and and just and just
04:44not
04:44and just pure knockouts because I've got 17 wins 15 of those are knockouts wow and that's massive and tko's
04:52and I've only got I only went to the decision twice and now with the same person the the future
04:58champion
04:59of the ufc so um okay you see you were on the future at certain times you know when you
05:04started
05:04this yeah yeah but when you started meeting top opposition from the top tier competitors things a
05:10little bit change what really happened well these you're not doing right then no because I think I think
05:19when you can when you get to the ufc and that ev all the fighters so everyone knows how to
05:24do
05:24everything so it's just the little details that separate the winner from the loser loser and then
05:31I think I think a lot of the time it's the mental aspect of or of training and that's something
05:37that
05:37I never I never um I never took on was a mental aspect the the the the psychological training the
05:47mental training and stuff like that you know so um I think that's what separates the top tier
05:53fighters it's just like the mental aspect of it because everyone knows how to do everything
05:57you know so yeah one of the biggest fights that you had there was Anthony Johnson what are things
06:03that you can remember about this fight now if you remember your memory even if you grew up to be
06:07100
06:07years old um I think that was at the MGM in Las Vegas I think I think that was my
06:18first fight in
06:20Vegas and um it was very daunting being uh being shipped from from London to Vegas to go like on
06:34the main
06:34stage and everything and um you know what we were both knockout specialists he was a knockout specialist
06:43I was a knockout specialist at the time and um you know I think it was just nerves I think
06:51it was just
06:52probably the first one to connect is that was gonna win the fight you know we're both one punch
06:57knockout specialist and now so it's the first one to to to connect you know what's that yeah but we're
07:03great friends before and after the fight Anthony Johnson was a was a was a great athlete and I respect
07:10him very much and he respects me very much and everything we've got we became good friends after
07:15after the fight yeah okay did you when did you ever feel so close to your title shot the UFC
07:21and what actually had you back when did you ever feel so close I was I was I was ranked
07:27number three
07:27in the world and um out my fight with
07:36Corey Anderson Corey Anderson in um in in in the O2 arena in London was um probably one of my
07:44best
07:45one of my favorite knockouts it was it was in the O2 arena I was the main event in my
07:51in my
07:53then hometown of of London and uh knocked him out in the first round and then that led me to
07:59a title
07:59uh a title shot with Daniel Cormier okay and so um leading up to the then then then after that
08:06I flew to
08:07Boston and me and Daniel Cormier had a had a showdown after his fight with he just beat Anthony Johnson
08:14yeah and everything but so I was next I was next in line to fight Daniel Cormier but that because
08:19he
08:20was a champion because Jon Jones had been suspended no from from competing due to his uh drug the drug
08:27tests and that but then um Jon Jones was coming back so he was automatically put in front of me
08:33to fight
08:34Daniel Cormier so then I had uh they they scheduled me to fight with um Volkan Ozdemir on the same
08:41night
08:42in California so um so if I would have won that fight I would have fought I would have went
08:48against
08:48the winner of Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier unfortunately I lost that fight in the first round
08:53so sad and um so sad yeah so so so so then I was put back and then and then
09:00Volkan Ozdemir was put
09:02forward to fight the winner of of that fight and then um yeah so that that that was the story
09:09so I was
09:10very close I was very close it was you know it is what it is some for the name it
09:14is what it is
09:15yeah right now talking about losses in UFC yeah it's not the biggest thing that you know fighter
09:20had to battle with how did you cope with losses later in the end of the career how did you
09:26manage
09:26losses well this is this is some something that I missed in my in my career because I kind of
09:33just went
09:34off of natural instincts and natural talent yeah and that all through through through my career and
09:41I kind of relied just on my natural abilities and I didn't I didn't have any mental coaches I didn't
09:47have any you know like that yeah I I just went on training training hard getting as fit as I
09:55can
09:55and then and then just just going on the night and that so um you know I kind of just
10:01dealt with it
10:01dealt with all my losses myself and that yeah but that's something that I should have I should have
10:07really because because being one of the top fighters in the world
10:14that separates the winners from the losers having that mental and so that mental advantage for
10:20performing on the night but talking about mental advantage what would you say as it was your the most
10:26to face mental challenge in and outside the cage maybe my losses and and having having another fight
10:34to come back and knowing that I have to win exactly so leading up to the fight I was very
10:40nervous I
10:40didn't talk to any mental mental coaches or anything like that I just dealt with everything myself and
10:50um so like I think I think that and that's something that I want to help fighters with
10:55and that is the mental is the mental aspect of of fighting and that so I think it was it
11:01was dealing
11:02with dealing with my losses and that because they say you have the highest highs on the lowest lows yeah
11:09so when you win there's no there's no other feeling like it but when you lose there's no other feeling
11:14like either so I see so you know in losses is one of the biggest talent for you as a
11:19fighter having
11:20to come back again and knowing when you had a winning fight yeah that's one of the biggest aspects of
11:25of
11:26the game how did that shape your mentality as a fighter my first loss was against Alex Gustafsson
11:32and um I kind of took it hard because I was like I think I was like 13 or 14
11:39fights unbeaten
11:40wow and that all with knockouts and everything so I always expect to win well and um you know it
11:47was
11:47it was tough it was tough losing but then then we started training together after after he beat me
11:52and then it made me a better fighter because I went to a better training camp in in Sweden and
11:59you know
12:00the the the camp was was terrific and I learned a lot from from those guys and everything so it
12:06pushed my
12:06push my career forward talking about makes match your heart what has really changed then and now
12:12between now and now what does it not really change is it the money is it more money is it
12:16more poor
12:17the fighters have become a lot more versatile and so everyone knows how to to do everything now
12:23everyone's a specialist everywhere now and and probably the money's changed as well there's a lot
12:28more money in it now so it's a bigger growing sport and that so I think fighters can make proper
12:34proper
12:34careers out of it yeah no talking about Kamaru and Adesanya how how close are you guys um Adesanya
12:43I was I I used to be a fan of him when he was a kickboxing okay and when he
12:47first moved to mixed
12:48martial arts I invited him over to Sweden to our training camp okay now you think um we've been very
12:53close we had the same we had the same management as well we still got the same management now
12:57and that and um you know he's a very good guy he's very good I like him I like um
13:03Adesanya okay
13:04wonderful Kamaru Kamaru's uh a good friend and that um you know he had a different path in um in
13:13the
13:14UFC became champion he's one of the greatest welterweight fighters in the UFC and um you know he's a good
13:21guy
13:21as you come back to Nigeria a few times and he's got his AKL show here and everything so yeah
13:27yeah
13:28both good guys let's talk about your retirement so what actually led to your retirement do you know
13:33what it was like I was ranked number three in the world I had my first loss against Ozdemir and
13:41then
13:42I was scheduled to fight um who was next after Ozdemir I think it was Jan Blachowicz okay in London
13:52okay
13:52and um I'd already beaten him he's the he's the only fighter I've been to this decision once okay with
13:59and I beat him in Poland where I went to fight him in Poland I beat him uh third round
14:05decision so
14:06after my fight with Ozdemir they put me against Blachowicz again in London okay and he beat me
14:14by points wow so I beat him in points in his hometown in Poland and then he beat me on
14:20points in my hometown
14:22in London so that was a that was a funny no funny story but it was uh interesting and that
14:28and so
14:30after that I fought um Thiago Santos in Brazil no he was I've meant to be in Brazil but
14:35I fought him in Canada in Toronto and um that was a very violent fight it went off from the
14:43first
14:44five seconds the the bell went and that and um I lost that fight again so and then I was
14:51scheduled to fight um what's his name um that was my last fight
14:59your last Rakic in Sweden that was in Sweden as well and then I lost that fight by knockout
15:06so when I've I've had four losses in a row coming from one of the top fighters in the world
15:14and that
15:15I wasn't I wasn't watching my rankings at the time and all that but
15:20it was very hard to take and that and um you know I think a couple of couple of weeks
15:26after
15:26after the loss I just put out a post saying um I'm deciding to retire and rarer so I think
15:32it was
15:32the losses what affected my decision and that and um because I thought I thought I thought that
15:39that fighting these guys I should be beating them I'm better than these guys
15:43and that and um it was it was just my mind was all all over the place at the time
15:49and I just decided
15:50to retire and hang hang my gloves up and that but a couple of months after after that decision
15:58I kind of regretted it yeah I kind of regretted it I wanted to regret I wanted to fight again
16:04so I got back into training and stuff but then covid hit and then all the fights were
16:10were cancelled and everything and everything and then we went through covid and then and then
16:16that's when I moved to America so then after that life life just kind of happened you know
16:24and then like a couple of years went past and um now that that was it basically wow and that
16:32but
16:32now but now I've still got the itch the itch the itch to fight for fun stuff and everything but
16:39I've been training a lot of boxing a lot of boxing over the last over the last few years
16:44and then and I think I want to have a few boxing fights wow before before how soon should we
16:50expect
16:51that soon this year this year wow we'll be looking forward to that yeah now looking at Nigeria I do
16:57think Nigeria has the potential to produce top mixed mixture of heart like you Nigeria as a country in
17:03Nigeria now you think Nigeria has already proved itself that all the warriors come from this this
17:09this this this part of the world naturally without even trying you know and and this is
17:15what this is what I want to kind of give back to the world and give back to Lagos where
17:22I grew up
17:22and there's a lot of young kids just like me who can who can make it in the world and
17:28I want to I want to
17:29I want to give them that opportunity you know and train them and show them proper training and proper
17:34guidance into becoming top athletes that they that they should be in the world well exactly what
17:40I was coming to that that what you want to give back to the nigerian so is that really is
17:44that a
17:44key behind the the gym that you're searching openly yes yes let me know my body I had I had
17:50a
17:50gym called Lion's Pride MMA that I started shortly after I started my career and we had such great
17:58fighters I had to close it I had to close it after about five or five or six years and
18:04that's how I
18:05want to I want to try and I want to reopen that here in Nigeria and then give all the
18:11kids from Lagos
18:12a fighting chance to make it in the world and now I also want to hold hold like regular
18:19MMA shows here here in Lagos I also shouldn't I be expecting that to come into this year this
18:26year this year this year we're currently working on on the gym on the on the gym location well we've
18:31got the gym location now we're just currently start starting work on it and everything and getting it
18:37built wow and that okay I've come here I've come here for a few times and everything but I think
18:43this year
18:45is is the time to start 2026 it's the time to start yes that's always the final what so
18:51Nigerians were watching us on tv the final message to young guys who want to aspire what is your advice
18:56for young guys you want to go into a mix match your heart in future to what's my advice to
19:03them is to is
19:04to believe in themselves that just seeing it on tv they can actually do it themselves because that's
19:12what I did before I even started what before I even started fighting or even training UFC I used
19:18to watch UFC on tv and I used to watch and think you know what that's that's that's my style
19:24that I like
19:25this that I can do this and now well I literally walked into into the gym I started training I
19:32had
19:32my first fight two weeks later wow and then within a year and a half I was UK number one
19:40wow in my weight
19:43in my weight division within four years I'd signed to UFC wow so it's not impossible and you just have
19:51to
19:51get up and and do it and believe in yourself wonderful now thank you for your time all right
19:57guys I'm Jimmy the poster boy Emanuel keep watching guardian tv
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