UFC Fighter Themba Gorimbo Shares Family's Reaction After Dwayne Johnson Surprised Them with New House
“We've been struggling,” the Zimbabwean-born fighter said, adding that his wife cried when she was told the news
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Themba Gorimbo, who Johnson gifted with a new house.Themba Gorimbo is opening up about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s grand gesture.
Earlier this week, The Rock, 51, purchased the UFC fighter, 32, a new house after the pair connected on Twitter due to similar backstories — like Gorimbo, the Fast & Furious star only had $7 in his bank account when he was an up-and-coming athlete.
Johnson — who vowed to lease the Miami home and cover all expenses for as long as Gorimbo wants to live there — told the Zimbabwean-born fighter, “This place is yours. You don’t have to think about anything."
"The only thing you think about is your family, getting them over here, getting them with you, your training and becoming [a] champion," the actor concluded.
Now, the welterweight fighter is sharing his family’s reaction to The Rock's gesture.
“When I told them that we got the house, we are going to move to Miami and stuff like that, my wife was a little bit crying," he told Entertainment Tonight. “And my daughter apparently said, ‘God is blessing us because we have suffered so much.’ And it's very true.”
Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC
UFC fighter Themba Gorimbo.“We've been struggling in the background,” he added. “For her to be saying that, that hits me a little bit as well.”
The UFC fighter went on to say that his whole family is ecstatic. “My daughter is super excited,” he told ET. “She's the most excited, more than everybody.”
“The other one, she's too little,” he said of his younger daughter. “She does not know anything. All she knows is ‘Dada.’”
On top of all the excitement and relief, Gorimbo said, his spouse has some worries. “My wife is a little bit nervous,” he told the outlet. “She's, like, scared of change. She lived her whole life in South Africa and Zimbabwe, so she's never been on a flight overseas. This will be her first flight overseas!"
The UFC fighter admitted that, when he shared his story, he did not think The Rock would ever “actually respond to the thing.” “I was already back in Zimbabwe then,” he told ET. “I'll be honest. When he said, 'I got your back, brother,' [in] the tweets ... it didn't sound real for me.”
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who gifted UFC fighter Themba Gorimbo with a new Miami home.Gorimbo also shared that Johnson giving him the keys to the home was the “best part” of the big day, and he still becomes emotional while thinking about it. “I'm still happy to this day,” he said. “I didn't know all the things [that were going to happen] but I even thanked him before. Because you know when you [just] connect with people? That's how it felt.”
“The energy is kind of different, you know?" he added. "And I felt the energy in [Johnson’s] presence.”
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The UFC fighter shared that he has gleaned more from the Black Adam star than a home — he also learned from Johnson's life and wisdom.
“Small things count in life, if you look at them properly,” he told ET. “You cannot just be blowing up in an instant, you know? The small things differentiate everyone from many, you know, and that's one thing I realized. [Johnson] is very disciplined. He knows that's probably the reason why he is the way he is, and I'm very grateful that I learned that lesson and I'm gonna take it to heart.”
While reflecting on the events of this week, Gorimbo compared his life to a film. “Everything worked out well,” he said, smiling. “I'm blessed to be here. I'm blessed to be in this movie.”
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