“I want to be myself,” he said. “Even if people don’t like me or people like me, I’d rather be myself. Let me be cherished for being myself than to be fake.”
Gorimbo is certainly being cherished back home for being himself, but the origin of being so selfless isn’t something he can explain. It’s just who he is and he’s fine with it. And while having people take his generosity for granted at times has stung him, he won’t stop looking out for those less fortunate.
“It’s something I can’t explain,” he said. “It’s just my nature, actually, as a person. And yeah, it comes back and bites me at times that I’ve tried to do so much for other people, but now I’m learning how to deal with it.”
A longtime standout on the MMA scene of his adopted home country of South Africa, Gorimbo began fighting in 2010 after seeing the film “Never Back Down,” he was a pro by 2013, and in February, he made his UFC debut, losing via submission to AJ Fletcher. It was a disappointing outing, but he was not deterred, and after working with the MMA Masters crew in Florida, he put together a strong effort in the biggest fight of his career, but when asked at the post-fight press conference whether battling Sato was a do or die moment, he made it clear that he had been in more perilous positions than in sanctioned combat in an Octagon in Las Vegas.
“It was not do or die for me,” he said. “I’ve been in worse situations in my life. I fight to change my life. So there was no do or die, even based on the situation that I was in where I didn’t have the money. It was more for me to just find that freedom, to get that result where I showed the world that I’m not what you saw in the last fight where I lost that fight. I am a different person and I’m capable of becoming a champion and I will be a champion. So that was more important than anything.” Not money. Winning. And Gorimbo plans on doing a lot more of it in the future.
“Money is not something that drives me,” he said. “For me, what drives me is setting goals and going after them, taking risks and taking chances and becoming what I know I’m destined to be. I will become a champion in 2024. That’s my goal. And yeah, I just put it out there. I will become a champion in the UFC by the end of 2024. I know this.”
