By Danny Jones – @Tidy_MMA
The city of Maiduguri in north-eastern Nigeria is known to many only as the birthplace of the Boko Haram insurgency.
For LFA athlete Adamu Isah, however, Maiduguri was home for 15 years. Indeed, it was the place in which his venture into combat sports – specifically Taekwondo – began.
A kind soul seldom seen absent of a beatific smile, Adamu projects a disposition that strikingly contrasts the horrors and hardships that befell him in his homeland.
“What’s crazy is that the whole Boko Haram issue was actually the reason why I had to run away from the village of Maiduguri, because it was very terrifying – it was very [traumatizing] for me since the beginning of the war” Adamu reveals.
For over a decade, the militant group Boko Haram – designated a terrorist organization by the US Department of State in 2013 – have waged atrocities in their pursuit of an Islamic State.
According to a 2023 article by news outlet France 24, the insurgent sect is responsible for at least 35,000 deaths, and the displacement of over 2 million individuals.
“You wake up everyday, you hear a bomb, a gun” Adamu explains. “One of your friends was dead, the other one got kidnapped, the other one you used to go to school [with] got shot”.
“My uncle personally got shot, and that was the most terrifying thing” Adamu admits. “For us, to see his body, back home with the bullet in his head, that was the most [traumatizing] thing”.
At that time, only Adamu’s grandmother and other uncle remained with him in Maiduguri. The chaos had already forced his mother to move to another village – one that lacked electricity and clean water.
“It was bad – but it was more peaceful for her” Adamu says.
With the loss of his uncle, however, Adamu too decided it was time to leave Maiduguri.
“I waited a week after the funeral, I say ‘I’m gone’” Adamu says. “I tell my grandmother… ‘I’m outta here. I’m tired of waking everyday; bomb here, bomb over there’”.
At 15 years old, Adamu fled Maiduguri – and the horrors of Boko Haram – for Abuja, the Nigerian capital. It was a move that set into motion a chain of events that would exceed the young Nigerians wildest imaginations, as in Abuja, Adamu was recognised for his Taekwondo talents.
“The Abuja National Sport Festival Trials, it’s like a nationals competition they do every year” Adamu explains. “I was very fortunate, I was training with Abuja, and Abuja say ‘you know what, we like you, we wanna drop everyone – we wanna take you to the nationals’. But, I was only 115lbs, and the smallest weight was 125 [lbs]. Abuja was still okay taking me because I had already beaten the guys that were in that weight category”.
“That was the only chance for me” Adamu continues. “I went to the nationals in December that same year, [and] I won the whole thing. I won a gold medal – the youngest ever to win a medal. That brings attention. You add that I am from Maiduguri, no one ever has ever done that”.
“You see I escape from Maiduguri just to survive, to be in Abuja, not knowing my future was in Abuja” Adamu says.
As a youth, Adamu would later participate in Olympic Games qualification, the World Championships, and win gold in the Commonwealth Championships. His success garnered a scholarship from the International Olympic Committee, which enabled Adamu to travel to America to train under the USA National coaching team.
“That’s how I got to America” Adamu explains. “When I [came] I was training, [and in] the first year I won everything. I won US open, I won Presidents Cup, I won Costa Rica Open, I won US nationals. I was winning everything. I went from ranked 500 to top 30 in the world, in one year”.
Internal politics within the Nigerian Taekwondo Federation, however, later derailed Adamu’s ascension in Taekwondo, when he was prevented from competing for Nigeria in the Olympics.
“I was very upset, so I say I’m done” Adamu recalls. “I took a full month off. An idea come, and I start mixed martial arts. I start training wrestling, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing – I start doing everything right. I start from the beginning. I say I’m gonna learn everything from the beginning”.
The talented Taekwondoin has since amassed a 3-1 professional MMA record, with his four professional MMA bouts competed exclusively with LFA.
On January 12th 2024, Adamu competes at Prior Lake in Minnesota for the third time in both his professional and amateur MMA career, following previous encounters with Eimar Hernandez and Ganbat Bayasgalan at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.
Replacing injured Kill Cliff FC teammate Mitch McKee at LFA 174, Adamu steps in on short notice to compete in his first main card bout with LFA, against Devante Sewell.
“We are always ready to put our hand on opportunity” Adamu states. “That’s what we do when an opportunity presents itself. Unfortunately… my teammate was hurt, it’s not what we want, but I’m just there, so I jump in”.
“I feel great – like I say, fighters fight” Adamu expresses. “Me in my head, I’m always ready to fight. I know in my head I’m there. I’m there, I know I’m there. It’s not a short notice. He might think it’s a short notice. For me it’s not a short notice. I’m ready”.
The author extends his utmost gratitude to Adamu Isah for making this article possible.
Image courtesy of LFA (on X).
