Is Losene Keita Belgian? Ethnicity, Nationality & Background

The hype surrounding some of the most recent signings in the UFC, with immense experience in the game, hasn’t panned out well. Former Bellator signings like Patchy Mix, Patricio Freire, and a few others did not fare well on their debut. Now, another fighter is making his way into Dana White’s promotion with an impressive record: Losene Keita, who’ll compete in his first UFC fight this weekend at UFC Paris.

Losene Keita has a record of 16 wins at the expense of just 1 professional loss. Having previously competed on the European circuit, the 27-year-old is a three-time Oktagon MMA champion, as he won the lightweight title twice and the featherweight title once. However, it will be in the 145lbs division where ‘Black Panther’ will make his debut at UFC Paris, taking on Patricio Freire.

UFC Paris is scheduled for September 6, 2025, at Accor Arena in Paris, headlining with Nassourdine Imavov vs. Caio Borralho. Keita’s UFC debut, a featherweight bout against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, is confirmed on the main card. But before we get to his fight this weekend, let’s get to know Keita on a personal note.

Where is Losene Keita from? Ethnicity & nationality

Losene Keita was born in the West African nation of Guinea, in the capital city of Conakry. As such, the 27-year-old has Guinean citizenship, but that’s not the only country he’s a citizen of. He was just eleven when Keita’s family decided to move to Kortrijk in Belgium, which is the city and nation he represents while competing, which means that he’s a Belgian national, too.

When it comes to ‘Black Panther’s ethnicity, he’s of Guinean descent. But if we take a deeper look, Losene Keita’s birthplace is dominated mainly by the Susu or Soussou community, but there are other groups like Fula and Malinke. But his last name appears to be synonymous with the Mandé peoples, so we can’t be too sure of Keita’s ethnic roots.

Now that we’ve established the details regarding Losene Keita’s background, let’s take a look at another aspect of his life. How was it for him growing up? Well, it appears that ‘Black Panther’ went through a lot of trouble. Here’s what we know.

About Keita’s early life & background

When Losene Keita was young and in school, his grades weren’t good, and he wasn’t doing well in academics. According to The Scrap, the featherweight fighter would often get into trouble in fights, even on the streets. The problematic thing about his getting into trouble was that the police also got involved on certain occasions. There are no details about his parents in the public domain either.

But to get away from trouble after spending time in prison, someone suggested that he take up MMA, about which Losene Keita had no idea. The featherweight fighter grew up playing soccer and basketball, but the person who advised him to take up fighting knew that Keita had some talent. He turned out to be right because the Guinean-born Belgian fighter amassed a pretty impressive record after turning professional in 2019, and now, just six years later, Keita’s in the UFC.

As Losene Keita goes deep into his UFC run, we’ll be learning a lot more about him and the details about him that fans would want to know. But now, he’s got his biggest chance with his UFC Paris fight. Although one fight doesn’t prove anything, it will be interesting to see if he fares better on his debut than his opponent, Patricio Freire, did in Dana White‘s promotion. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.