Every fighter has a story on how they got into the sport, lessons they have learned since becoming a mixed martial artist and Khama Worthy has his story.
The fighter out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a former model and has been doing martial arts for most of his life.
While living in New York, he was in a gym and someone told him he should do mixed martial arts. At that time, he did not know what this person was talking about.
He learned about the sport by renting videos and the rest is history. He took his first professional fight in 2012 and having several amateur fights. He started 1-2 in his career and after losing to current UFC lightweight Paul Felder at the end of 2012, he realized that he was not a lightweight, he was a featherweight.
“The first thing that made me drop was that Paul Felder is a big motherf—er,” Worthy said on The MMA Report Live. “He is huge. He is real 55’er and I was taught a valuable lesson that this sport takes a lot from you. You can’t go in wishy-washy about it. You are either all in or you are all out. Its not the kind of sport that maybe dedicate your whole life to. It’s either you put your whole life into it or you don’t.”
Since dropping to featherweight, Worthy (7-2) is undefeated and his last three wins have come by TKO/KO. Two of those wins have come in the first round and his last seven fights have come in Pinnacle FC. However, he is taking a fight in a new promotion next weekend as he will meet Billy Quarantillo at Glory Fights for the featherweight title. After having seven straight fights in one promotion, why did Worthy decided to take a fight with another promotion? Was it due to this being a title fight?
“It was because their was a title on the line and I am a guy that likes to stay busy,” he said. “They [Pinnacle FC] did not have a fight coming up and I consider myself to be constantly improving. I have been going out to Rofusport, training with those guys. I have really been clicking with my coaches here. I like to keep myself busy. I think sometimes sitting around and waiting, that can really take it’s toll on you. They gave me this opportunity. I was actually looking for a fight and I almost took a fight with CFFC and then I almost took a fight somewhere else. Nothing was really falling the way I wanted it to. They offered me this fight and I like the opportunity. The guy is nationally ranked, I figured why not go ahead and push the gas pedal a little bit.”
Could a victory over Quarantillo get Worthy a call from the UFC?
“I try not to think about things that way but every fight I think this will be the fight that gets me in the UFC or closer to the UFC. I think getting into the UFC is a thing of luck basically. It’s all about who is looking at you at the right time. I don’t really take it as this is going to be the fight that gets me into the UFC because I think that could put too much pressure on you at a certain time.”
If Worthy had the opportunity to have a quick conservation with Joe Silva or Sean Shelby, Worthy’s message would be that he is a special fighter.
“I would tell them like guys like are probably only born every 10,000 years. So they would be like, ‘what do you mean by that?’ The type of person I am. The way I fight. My fights explain it. The kind of energy I bring. I am very respectful but in the same sense I bring a sense of energy that is like — there is just something about me.”