Just months after making his MMA debut, Kane Mousah was sentenced to nine years in prison, now he’s fighting in front of packed crowds around Europe.
Manchester native Mousah had gone 2-0 in his early career when he was given a nine-year prison sentence at the age of just 23. He was found to have been in possession of a handgun, silencer and eight rounds of bullets in a car with two other men.
But he refused to allow his life to be defined by just that conviction, and when he was released a few years later he became a stalwart in the British MMA scene. He has since landed massive fights under the Bellator banner, and is now signed up with PFL where he faces Dylan Tuke in Newcastle this Friday.
Kane Mousah opens up about turning his life around through MMA
Going into prison, Kane Mousah was a no-nonsense brawler who would stand and trade in the pocket and search perilously for the knockout. But during his forced absence from the cage, he was able to develop both as a person and with his in-cage style.
“I managed to keep my faculties while I was in prison,” Mousah said in an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow. “I could preserve myself and it helped me get into a good place. I learned that I never quit, that I never give up on myself and I refuse to lose.”
And he believes that he has been put in a position to inspire people who are from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds. Mousah was forced down a bad path in his early life, but wants to change perception for young men and women from the same place as him.
“I refuse to accept that I was put on this earth to do anything lesser than be great,” he added. “And that’s why I keep working. Everything that I’ve achieved in life already at this point from what I’ve been through is greatness within itself.
“I had to understand that and it’s why I’ve continued on this path and I’ve worked the way that I work. Because I’m not just fighting for me, I’m fighting for people who are inspired by my journey.”
Kane Mousah will continue advocacy work even after MMA career is finished
A veteran of the British scene, Mousah is 38-years-old and riding a two-fight losing streak into this weekend’s co-main event on the same card as boxing champion Savannah Marshall’s MMA debut. But he isn’t eyeing retirement just yet.
He nottes that his background means that he’s younger in his body than many other fighters his age. And he plans to maintain his spot as one of the sport’s most inspirational figures whether he’s fighting or not.
“While I can’t fight forever physically in the cage, after my career is done I’ll always demonstrate a fighter’s mentality and a fighter’s spirit,” he explained. “So younger people, younger men, younger women can understand exactly what it’s like to never quit and what it looks like.
“I’m happy to say that I embody that. I’m ‘the danger’, man and you already know what time it is. I want to show everybody that I’m the guy who proves it doesn’t matter what you go through, you can be hit with the highest level of adversity in your life.
“You just have to be able to keep your mind solid and set yourself up with goals and targets and work towards it. Understand that it’s not going to be easy to get there but as long as you stay on that path and don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked and your faith to be tainted by situations you can achieve it.
“If that was my path set by God to come on this earth and show people what resilience looks like, then I’m happy to take that on and keep running with that.”
Kane Mousah faces Dylan Tuke at PFL Europe: Newcastle on June 8. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster
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