Themba Gorimbo found some measure of online fame when his giving nature won him the attention, fandom, and funding of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, but he has also proven deserving of being in the top MMA promotion in the world with his skills.
His foe on Saturday, Niko 'the Hybrid' Price, was a fan favorite in his prime for his flashy style, unusual knockouts, and never back down attitude, but is now 35 and has only won two fights out of seven since the beginning of 2020.
Still, Niko found a way to bounce back from a two-fight knockout loss streak back in June when he out-dueled savvy veteran Alex Morono to a decision win.
However, Morono is not half the athlete in a physical sense that Gorimbo is. The man who builds water wells for people in his native Zimbabwe also packs a heck of a punch; he is probably one of the most explosive unranked welterweights in the UFC.
Recently, Niko Price has not been able to enforce his usual chaos in fights. Against Phil Rowe and fellow old man Robbie Lawler, he just found himself up against men with way more in the tank than him; they hit harder and he just seemed unable to keep up.
Even against another older -- and smaller -- fighter in Alex 'Cowboy' Olivera, who has lost his last two on the Russian regional scene, when his chaotic style met Price's they just both seemed too slow to make it threaten the other.
In their primes both Oliveira and Price packed the potential of a knockout in every strike, from any angle. Yet it's more than that; they possessed the dexterity and reflexes to scramble and maneuver in their entropic ways, find avenues by just trying everything and threatening foes from a variety of positions, angles, and martial arts.
Now that appears gone, even if Price can win a decision while hurting a solid but unathletic fighter like Morono a few times.
On the other hand, Themba Gorimbo is still clearly flawed and relatively new. His wrestling is far from great, and his striking has yet to find a balance between reckless aggression and overthinking.
Yet the tools are there, the drive is there, and clear growth can be seen across his fights in multiple facets of the sport. With the dedication to move your whole life to America, to have had to mop and sleep on gym floors just to train while having a place to go at night, it is clear Gorimbo is committed to his dream.
At MMA Masters he will not receive bad coaching either, so with Themba showing improvement in each fight so far, I feel comfortable picking him to beat Niko Price.
There are always weird losses which come in a prospect's career; Gorimbo could absolutely lose this one, but he has all the tools to get it done.
