Fight Path: Former track standout Mukai Maromo blazing new path in MMA

As much as anything, Mukai Maromo looked the part.

Which is funny, because earlier, when Maromo first came to the United States from Zimbabwe to accept a track and field scholarship as a sprinter, he didn't really look or act anything like his new peers expected him to.

He was, well, not quite as Zimbabwe as they thought.

"They're thinking National Geographic," Maromo said through a laugh this week in an interview with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I grew up in the capital city. City life was not new to me, and I didn't have some major accent."

But later, after he had transferred from his North Carolina college to Canada to be closer to his also-moved parents, he had to take some time off school. He went to a few martial arts classes with an uncle who was passionate about it. The teacher noticed his athletic frame.

As said, he looked the part.

"The instructor of that class (a Pilipino martial art) knew an instructor in muay Thai, and he said, 'You should try that,'" Maromo said.

Now, seven years later, long since leaving his track and educational path because of his newfound passion for combat sports, Maromo is continuing to make his mark. On Feb. 15, he hopes to make a stronger case as a noted 155-pounder when he faces Graham Spencer for the Maximum Fighting Championship lightweight title.

Still stinging that his most recent fight, a win against Adam Lynn at MFC 34 in August, didn't determine the lightweight title because Lynn didn't make weight, Maromo (8-2) is hoping to both officially take home the belt and avenge a December 2010 loss to Spencer, his last before his current five-fight win streak.

The 29-year-old resident of Edmonton, Alberta, is fueled by his organized and caring upbringing, his drive that borders on obsession with his passions (currently MMA) and a desire to officially be a champion. His chance comes next weekend, which could help validate his decision to cut short his education to begin his fighting career.

"Now," he said, "I'm trying to make it official."

Speedster

Maromo is not from a place most would think when picturing National Geographic, which many do when they hear he's from Zimbabwe.

"In school, everybody wore uniforms," he said. "It was a blazer, shirt, tie, shorts in the summer, and in the winter dress pants with long socks. It was very formal schooling."

That matched the influence of his parents, a mechanical engineer father and an accountant mother. They urged education and competition, and Maromo was skilled at both.

As part of his school's rules, students were required to at least try out for one of the sports teams. In that structured environment, Maromo excelled in track. He was a 100-meter sprinter in high school, but by the time he reached Livingstone College in North Carolina, he found out he was due for a change.

"I came from a different place, and I would be among the best in the 100 meters, and then when I came (to the U.S.), I was like sixth, seventh or eighth," he said. "I couldn't believe it."

Transferring to the 400 meters, Maromo gained experience in competition as well as learning about different parts of the country while traveling with the team. Once his parents moved to Canada, and just a few credits shy of his degree, Maromo decided to transfer to a school closer to them.

It turned out that while the new school was sorting out his credits and his schedule, he had free time. He asked an uncle if he could join him in some martial arts classes.

"I was just kind of tagging along," he said. "At the time I didn't think much of it."

Expanding skills

The teachers thought plenty of him, though. Around 2005, Maromo thought he was just going to pass some time until he could go back to school.

Then he started muay Thai, and it was a revelation. Before long, he was so smitten with the training that he decided he would pursue it full-time instead of returning to school. It remains a regret.

"I probably should've tried to do both at the same time and graduate," he said. "But it's part of my personality when I have a passion for something – I just can't take myself away from it."

So he poured himself into martial arts. After three months of training, he took the first of 10 amateur muay Thai fights. As a professional, it didn't take him long to impress, especially with a first-round knockout of a respected fighter from Thailand. A friend told him he should try MMA.

He didn't know much about it, and he couldn't go the amateur route because he was already a professional in muay Thai. But he asked some others at his gym to teach him some things, and by May 2010 he was an MMA fighter.

After winning his first three fights, Maromo lost two straight, including a unanimous decision defeat against Spencer in December 2010 in a fight for which he dropped to 150 pounds as Spencer rose from 145 pounds to meet him halfway on short notice because another opponent didn't pan out. The losses caused him to stress ground game in his training, and he has since won five straight.

Now he wants to win something more – the title that eluded him in his most recent fight. It would be another step in a career that started with the shirt-and-tie schooling attention to detail in Zimbabwe.

"It's a fight with a title on the line against someone who got a win over me," he said. "It's hard to ask for more than that."