Since this article was published, Maka Unufe now prefers to use his first name, Kisi, instead of Maka.
The Houston SaberCats signed Kisi Keomaka Unufe for the 2022 Major League Rugby season. The 30-year-old wing is 6’2″ and 210 lbs.
Maka is from Provo, Utah, and attended Provo High School where he was a wide receiver and defensive back in football, as well as playing rugby.
He played rugby for the Utah Warriors at the 2011 Club Sevens Nationals and was named to the All-Tournament Team. This placed him on the national radar and he went to Chile for the 2011 Pan American Games and helped the team win the bronze medal.
In 2012 he made his debut in the HSBC World Sevens Series at Wellington, New Zealand, and in 2015 was named to the World Rugby Sevens Dream Team at Wellington. In 2015 he earned another bronze medal playing in the Pan American Games in Toronto.
In 2016 Maka was selected to Team USA for the Olympics in Rio with the Rugby Sevens team finishing in ninth place.
Controversy impacted Maka in 2018 when he tested positive for a banned substance, Heptaminol, which was in a dietary supplement, and on July 13 he was suspended from playing rugby for 14 months. While the ingestion was inadvertent, he relied on family, friends, and teammates to help him through this time.
Maka has played club rugby with the Provo Steelers and returned to the USA National Sevens team playing in the 2019-2020 season and in 2021 at the Madrid Sevens.
Maka played 235 games with the Eagles Sevens Team, starting 134 times, scoring 362 points through 72 tries.
Maka is a religious and family man. He is a proud husband to Rebecca and his children, as well as his extended family. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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