How are superhuman gyms dealing with the entire lockdown? Given the current state do you think the overall structure of gyms will see massive changes?

Well, Yes indeed. These times are challenging and every industry, including ours, is going through a massive structural change. Superhuman Gym is one of the few lucky gym brands that has survived while retaining our entire staff and paying their salaries. It hasn’t been easy, but we have done it. Our foundation from the very beginning has been to focus on a solid business and not overspend and flaunt on unnecessary marketing and associations.

It’s upsetting to see gyms chains shut overnight leaving a huge vacuum in employment. I also understand that single gym owners are finding it very difficult to cope. At this point in time, survival is the key. I truly feel the ecosystem needs to focus on survival and not profits. The landlord and the tenant need to be on the same page on the rentals as that is one of the biggest recurring expenses for any brick and mortar business.

Superhuman has been actively helping gyms stay afloat. How did this initiative come about? How are you managing to help at these times?

We have always advocated teamwork and team spirit. On a Zoom meeting with my core team, I bounced the idea of helping other gyms and my team found it crazy, amusing, and productive. We brainstormed on this deeply and felt our aim is to reach out to gym owners in distress, trainers/coaches, etc. Hear their issues and try to find solutions to the problem. Nobody is currently doing that, we are willing to employ staff that has been laid off or collaborate with gyms that are feeling the pinch. We have so far received almost 500 help requests. Each of those needs Superhuman in some way. We are analyzing each request and brainstorming on a solution case by case.  I do understand we cannot help everybody, but if we manage to even help a few, we consider it a successful campaign.

What kind of support from the government would the fitness and gym industry need after this pandemic?

In these challenging times, each industry needs to unite and find a solution that suits them best. I have a feeling the government is ready to listen and genuinely has concerns for the economy. There are some decisions that can be judged like opening some industries vs others, but at the end of the day, a government is run by humans and even they are learning about this pandemic. We cannot always hold the government accountable when we ourselves behave irresponsibly.

While it’s a proven fact that healthy, able bodies can fight the virus better, and keeping healthy is the solution, the government is weighing the pros and cons of keeping the industry open. Yes, I have heard that religious places have been allowed to open. That is a classic debate between balancing sentiments and practicality. The government would have to listen to the leading industry experts and take a call on how to help.

MMA in India was gaining popularity. With the pandemic now hitting the sports world hard, where do you think the sport goes from here in India? How long will it take to get back where the sport was?

I truly believe sports enthusiasts are craving some good content. I’m happy to be a part of the biggest MMA promotion in the world and their Indian broadcasters. Sony Sports Network has been extremely proactive in generating content and the team is always working towards grooming the sport. UFC on the other hand are go-getters putting up shows, going to islands, setting up infrastructure, and taking on the world. The combination couldn’t be better for India. For the other sports, it’s more like a 3-month detox. I however believe the graph for sports will only move upwards from here on.

What are the long term changes do you see in the sport? What are your thoughts on the UFC still running live events?

UFC has shown why they are the industry leaders. While all sports organizations completely shut off, UFC altered their business model, accepted certain losses, and put up shows. They changed the way broadcast deals are done and I’m sure other sporting organizations would follow. The aim is to always look for solutions while adapting and constantly evolving.  UFC running live events is always positive. They take the utmost care of the staff, the crew, the fighters, etc, and have made sure the environment is safe for everybody in the office and arena. Doing all this while not cutting fighters pay, or cutting staff or staff pay is a commendable thing.

You currently have a show on SONY sports. How did that take place? What was the idea behind the show?

I have been involved with the UFC for some time now. The aim was to always do something in India. The three-way conversation between myself, UFC, and Sony was constantly running, from Hindi commentary to the Ultimate Guide to UFC to Sony Pit Stop. As mentioned earlier, the team at Sony is proactive, and developing MMA is on their radar.
I’m lucky that Sony involves me in the brainstorming sessions to develop the UFC and MMA in India. Currently, we have the Ultimate Guide to UFC running on Sony Sports India Facebook page which is a show we host after every UFC Fight Night.

Sony Pit Stop is a show that welcomes an MMA personality as a guest along with the three of us. That too airs on Facebook and has a podcast feel to it. We’ve had Bruce Buffer, Herb Dean, Bryan Caraway, Jeff Novitzky, etc as guests and a lot more lined up.
Once the lockdown ends, we will continue with the studio shows on the PPV’s.
The fans can expect a lot more great UFC and MMA content coming their way on Sony Sports.

The post Somesh Kamra discusses future of MMA in India, gyms during COVID-19 and More appeared first on Cageside Press.

ONE Championship has made it very clear that they want to explore the Indian MMA market. Standing as the largest Asian MMA promotion, ONE has been an active part of Indian MMA for a long time. It has, in a way, become a reliable alternative to regional MMA promotions in India. The MMA scene in India is very shady, as MMA is not recognized as a sport by the government of India. With that in mind, it is very difficult to have any kind of regulation over the sport. This makes it very easy for people to get away with any kind of event by masquerading as an MMA event.

Thus, when ONE opened its gates to Indian MMA fighters, it gave them an opportunity to both grow and have realistic dreams of fighting in a premium MMA promotion. However, despite a mutual willingness to come closer, the bond establishment with the Indian audience has been very difficult for ONE to develop. The first reason being that Indian fighters rarely won while competing under the promotion’s banner. The menace rose to the point where word got around in the Indian MMA community that ONE was using fighters as feeders. With recent events such as Rajinder Singh Meena and Puja Tomar securing wins in the promotion, the word was watered down. The second is the fact that ONE did not have a TV deal or any form of ground presence in India.

The company made it clear it was looking to establish an on-ground connect in 2019, but would it be a wise move to do so this year? In 2019, India will be hosting general elections. General elections are a festival in their own right in India. They have a specific set of rituals, activities and make sure they consume all of the attention of the nation. No sport can divert their attention to anything else. After that is the Cricket World Cup. Cricket is a religion in India. The nation, which is otherwise divided, unites unanimously to watch the sport. Many sports have boasted that they will overtake cricket but have failed in the most brutal fashion possible. The connection between Indians and cricket is very personal. This makes it futile to try and compete against it.

This brings us to the point, should ONE host an event in India this year? Sure, why not? However, they must remember that no one is going to pay anything to come to their event. They will have to heavily rely on Bollywood stars if they want to create any movement in the media towards them, something that is done by most regional Indian MMA promotions. If ONE wants to enter as an individual brand, then it will have to invest a genuine sum which may or may not yield results. As the Indian market expands, people expect to see a serious growth in the world of sport. But does that have any place for MMA? Yes. How do you fill that vacuum? Build a regional star.

Build a star the way boxing did. Vijender Singh stands as the only draw in all of Indian professional combat sports world. He was slowly and steadily built by boxing promotions with careful investments. It must be noted that Singh had his own fan following before he turned pro due to him winning a bronze medal way back in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was this medal that kicked off his path to stardom. If any MMA promotion wants to get mass attraction they need to focus on building a star amongst the people. And it can’t be someone of Indian descendant, which the WWE tried with Jinder Mahal and failed, it has to be Indian to the core, like the Great Khali. UFC too tried building Arjan Singh Bhullar but failed. ONE does have great potential but 2019 does seem like a jam-packed year for the Indian market to make any kind of movement.

The post ONE Championship: Should They Enter the Indian Market in 2019? appeared first on Cageside Press.

As mentioned in the last part, we will be now be taking a look at what was happening behind the curtains in Indian MMA. Please keep in mind that:

1. We are covering a portion of Indian MMA which is not documented. This is the more subjective part of the MMA history, where almost everyone wants to portray themselves as victims.
2. This altogether is a different section of Indian MMA history. This stream has been largely led by promoters and managers and their decisions have directly or indirectly affected the lives of fighters.
3. We will be revisiting many things again, but this time from a different perspective.
MMA is not a governmentally recognized sport in India. Each body in this sport is recognized from different governmental units. Each organization which acts as authorizing body of MMA in India acts independently.

All India Mixed Martial Arts Association

Popularly known as AIMMAA, the organization was created way back in 2004 and is by far the oldest Mixed Martial Arts body in the Indian MMA community. It was created by Daniel Isaac originally as a kickboxing body, known as All India Kickboxing Council. The council soon changed its name to AIMMAA to act as a supervising body over MMA in India. The founding members of the organization were Alan Fenandes, Ryan Thorpe, Jitendra Jain and Isaac.

Opening up about the main objective of the body, Daniel Isaac, MMA pioneer and founding member of AIMMAA, says, “All India Mixed Martial Arts Association was founded to position itself as the supervising NGO sports body for Mixed Martial Arts.”

Now as MMA was not a legalized sport, no one was supposed to actually register themselves at AIMMAA to get their events sanctioned. Still AIMMAA was the sanctioning body of Clash of Champions (India’s first pro-MMA promotion) and Gym Wars. The oldest-MMA sanctioning body of India, AIMMAA started taking over as the authority over Indian MMA somewhere between the late 2000s and early 2010s. The organization started getting itself registered with various state governments in order to increase its reach.

Why did AIMMAA do this?

As AIMMAA gained recognition from each state government, they could call themselves the recognized body for the state, and hence, masquerade themselves as the authoritative body of MMA in India. This gave them enough clout to get any promotion to sign themselves up as a part of AIMMAA. The move was devised carefully, but they never finished the process due to SFL’s association with Daniel Isaac.

SFL and AIMMAA:

In 2012, when SFL joined hands with Daniel Isaac, it automatically made AIMMAA their authorizing body. The control over SFL meant that they had control over MMA in India, as a majority of MMA gyms and fighters had signed exclusive contracts with SFL, which indirectly brought them under AIMMAA. This move made AIMMAA the undisputed MMA authority across India, which also brought in a lot of power and control to the hands of Daniel Isaac, who was the commissioner of AIMMAA.

AIMMAA was also the body that was providing referees and judges for SFL. They took care of in-ring equipment, officials and better management while also doing the paperwork required to make sure the fights were registered on websites to keep the official record of pro fighters.

Opening up about the relationship between AIMMAA and SFL, Daniel Isaac says, “AIMMAA has worked closely with SFL since its early days. We are happy to supervise and organize MMA shows for SFL because they comply with all health and safety protocol for athletes at the highest levels.”

Mayur Bansode and Karate Officials

One of the most important moves which happened in the early years of AIMMA was their association with karate teacher Mayur Bansode. Bansode was a karate black belt and had been a part of Indian karate community for a long time. He was also an accomplished kickboxer.

AIMMAA in its early days of association with SFL was having trouble in finding proper officials to judge matches. Hence, they usually had to employ the services of high-ranking AIMMAA officials, who had to travel from various places to conduct SFL events. As the number of events increased, it became difficult for them to continue their own jobs and also handle AIMMAA duties. That is when Bansode came on the scene and got all the karate officials to take part in an MMA referee program and become officials for SFL events. He was the one who got them under AIMMAA and helped in providing the base of officials to AIMMAA.

SFL Fighter Pay Issue

As per their website, AIMMAA takes care of fighter regulation, listens to their complaints and acts as the authorizing body of MMA in India. It is very clearly mentioned on their website that : “In India the AIMMAA ensures that every promoter/association follows the strict guidelines laid down by the national board for safe practices, officials’ expertise and integrity and high standards of athlete training. AIMMAA supervises that every event in India covers the mandatory policies of Heath Safety and Sport governance. Under the guidance of state chief delegates and an expert panel of national committee members the AIMMAA continues to unify mixed martial arts and mma fighters under this All-India banner with an effort to provide world class training and know-how to the Indian MMA community. All events conducted by AIMMAA in India are under direct permission from the Ministry of Sports, Govt of India. In India the AIMMAA follows the policy ‘To protect the fighters and promote the sport.'”

By normal definition, “promoter follows the strict guidelines laid down by the national board for safe practices, officials’ expertise and integrity” would mean that AIMMAA will take some action when a fighter accuses a promotion of not paying their promised fight purse. However, AIMMAA did not play any active role in resolving any complaints of the fighters.

One of the most notorious cases of a fighter not being paid the money they were due was seen when former kickboxing world champion, Charmaine Tweet, who had shared the cage with the likes of Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg, was not given her promised fight money. She later released a statement which read:

“ ** WARNING TO ALL FIGHTERS**
So after not being paid by the SFL after 1 month, and having to have Charmaine Tweet’s Management company release a statement regarding this matter… this is the response we got this morning for the Owner of the SFL …After sending this email several days ago:

Good Morning Raj:
I hope you remember me, I am Charmaine Tweet’s husband/manager. I am writing this message with the upmost respect. We feel we have no other avenues to pursue. Charmaine fought on Nov 23, SFL 10. We had signed a contract to be paid within 10 business days from the night of the fight. It has now been over double that time frame and we still have not been paid or reimbursed any monies. I have patiently contacted Dan several times over the last couple of weeks until I received an email saying he couldn’t help us any longer and would be away for the next month. He then instructed us to contact Shakir about any and all payments. I did contact Shakir four days ago and he informed us the money has been sent and he would send us some tracking information. That was four days ago and still no email or information from Shakir. Charmaine is a top-ranked Pro fighter and depends on her win purses to continue in this fight game. She has worked very hard for 12 years to get to be where she is today and is very well respected worldwide within the MMA community. We are struggling to understand why she has not been paid by the SFL. We feel Charmaine has been a positive advocate for SFL and looks forward to continue to be so. We truly hate to bother you with this matter but feel that each person we have contacted over the past 2.5 weeks has had little to no interest in helping us or understanding how important this money is to a fighter. Thank you very much for taking the time to look at this matter and we appreciate your time in this matter. Please feel free to email me or call any time.”

“You have u guys lost it? I have spoken to accounts u have been paid and proof sent p.s you are released.
Raj

THIS IS THE ONLY REPLY WE RECEIVED, TELLING US THAT CHAR HAS BEEN RELEASED….. STILL NO PAYMENT OF ANY KIND !!!!!!! OR ANY PROOF OR TRACKING NUMBER OR COPY OF CONTRACTS ….NOTHING. THIS CLEARLY SHOWS HOW THEY DEAL WITH WOMEN FIGHTERS IF YOU DARE TO QUESTION THEM ON ANY LEVEL.”

When asked about why was AIMMAA not involved in any transactions, Daniel Isaac says, “AIMMAA’s responsibility is to ensure protocols of health and safety for athletes and to ensure that the sport is promoted within the framework of a legitimately drafted ruleset in accordance with International MMA rules. Athlete’s payments and payment schedules are defined within the framework of mutually agreed upon contracts. AIMMAA is not part of the relationship between SFL and its signed athletes, AIMMAA just ensures that fighters are cleared through all screenings and licenses and that information is passed on to the SFL.”

Criticism

Since AIMMAA’s takeover as the authoritative body of Indian MMA, they have been subject to a lot criticism. They have not only been called out by Indian but also by foreign fighters multiple times. A particular charge which regularly comes up is that AIMMAA is a very corrupt organization.

In an intense write up on the “plight of fighters”, published on their official website, AIMMAF (All India Mixed Martial Arts Federation) claims that AIMMA takes up to 70-percent of fighters purse. They say, “The only association that organized events in India banned any athlete who questioned any of the decisions or demanded due payment or post-fight medical services. The fighters were not provided training, medical access, insurance or conveyance. Moreover, up to 70-percent of the prize money earned by the fighters was taxed by the association (leaving 30-percent to fighters). For most of the professional bouts, fighters were paid mere Rs. 15000-20000 while the actual purse money for each fighter was setup to be more than 1 lac each. Since the fighter purse money is not announced the fighters never questioned the payment as they had no other MMA event to participate in India. There were numerous occasions where the promoter had paid money to Daniel Issac for fighter prize money but then they were never handed over to fighters. Most importantly, the contracts with the fighters were in the hands of the commissioner of the All India Mixed Martial Arts Association and athletes did not have access to even possess a copy of the contract they were signed on to. When asked for a contract copy, AIMMAA commissioner would ask the fighter to get released without sharing the copy of the contract. A large number of fighters had to leave the organization midway, as they weren’t getting paid. This eventually became the sole reason for many fighters to come together to establish a federation on behalf of the fighters for fighters which in the end got the recognition of The Prince of Bahrain, His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad (KHK MMA).”

When asked what were his thoughts, Daniel Isaac says, “There are no such accusations against AIMMAA. What you are referring to is propaganda created by people who left AIMMAA because they wanted to create their own MMA organization: not through their own merit or hard work but by slandering the leader of the sport in India and by attempting to steal members and athletes from our organization through the spreading of baseless lies.”

No fighter so far has come out and openly stated that AIMMMA charged them a percentage of their fight purse, however many have stated that AIMMAA has failed to provide proper safety at events.

Bansode’s Walkout and Mass Exit from AIMMAA

Sometime in 2014-15, Mayur Bansode resigned from AIMMAA. He said “I had been a part of AIMMAA for a long time and had given in a lot of my resources to help the organization grow. When I started asking questions about where the money, which was being invested, was going I got vague answers. After repeated requests when I couldn’t get answers, I left the organization,” Bansode said. Adding on, Bansode said that the main reason wasn’t money. “My main reason to resign is that association started making business first. They ask all officials to receive black belt in MMA and fees was 7000 rs (and no one support this idea). And second, they organize level-one MMA certification course in that they gave MMA coach certificate in one day to martial arts and fitness instructors and was 1200/- rs.” With Bansode leaving the organization, many others soon made their exit.

Impact

AIMMAA created a very strong impact on the Indian MMA landscape. It attracted many people to the world of MMA and managed to start a revolution in the Indian Martial Arts community. AIMMAA members were the first people to actually talk about recognition of the sport from the government and were responsible for educating people about the sport of MMA.

They worked hard to create an environment that was friendly towards the concept of MMA and their on-ground connections once were almost second to none. AIMMAA also managed to become the first body to connect with one of the most important MMA bodies, IMMAF.
IMMAF (International Mixed Martial Arts Federation) joined hands with AIMMAA and welcomed it as a part of their organization. This was a historic move by the organization which changed the landscape of amateur prospects in India. Opening up about this in an interview, Daniel Isaac said, “AIMMAA has officially proposed my name for a role on the IMMAF world board. This is a great honor for me. I believe that my experience in MMA in India over the last decade, coupled with good networking and working relations between AIMMAA and other Asian/Middle Eastern countries will help me bring much positivity and development for IMMAF and the sport of MMA in the region. I believe that Asia and the Middle East have a lot of untapped potential where talent and expertise in MMA is concerned; and I believe we can ignite a revolution for the sport of MMA in this region.”

AIMMAF: All India Mixed Martial Arts Federation

AIMMAF was created in early 2016 by Aditya PS, Mayur Bansode, and Abdul Muneer. When asked about the main goal when creating the organization, Aditya simply replied, “AIMMAF was created for the fighters, by fighters.”

The organization took a very different approach to the sport than AIMMAA. Instead of getting recognition from different states, the AIMMAF simply got themselves registered under the central government. Despite being associated with influential names in the Indian MMA community, its early years weren’t really relevant to the Indian MMA market. The organization did not have any promotions signed up, nor did they have funds or recognition from any international body to move forward. For this development, the AIMMAF needed a strong backing, which they got from Brave.

AIMMAF and Brave

Brave Combat Federation was founded by Sheikh Khaled Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the fifth son of Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa. The promotion was created with the aim of making Mixed Martial Arts a global sport. The promotion was backed by the royal family of Bahrain and was therefore capable of investing money in the MMA circuit.

As explained in the last part, Brave Combat Federation wanted to break into the Indian market. So in 2016, they had their team connect with AIMMAF. The top officials were invited to Bahrain, where they met His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Opening up about their meeting, President of AIMMAF, Aditya PS says, “His Highness has been very grateful towards AIMMAF and the Indian MMA community. He gave us the initial support to grow the federation and even got Brave associated with us.” This association is what led to the historic event of Brave 5.

Brave 5: The Big Debacle

The main event between Tahar Hadbi and Carl Booth at Brave 5 was supposed to go five rounds. However, the fight was put an end to after three. The result returned was a unanimous decision win for Booth.

However, Booth himself said in the post-fight interview that he had signed up for a five-round fight. Hadbi seemed to look as if he was about to take the lead in the fight as Booth was gassed after round two. This particularly egregious case of bad timekeeping was heavily criticized. The decision was later overturned to a no-contest.

The duty of time-keeping is the job of the sanctioning body. Blunders like these cost a lot to fighters as they give in a lot of effort in a single fight. This mistake on AIMMAF’s end gave the entire Indian MMA community a bad look. In their official statement, AIMMAF said, “After a deep and detailed investigation, AIMMAF has identified the timekeeping mistake that caused the premature end of Brave 5 main event, Tahar Hadbi vs. Carl Booth. Due to the circumstantial and rare nature of the issue found, AIMMAF considered it appropriate to overturn the original result, a unanimous decision win for Booth, into a no-contest. Brave Combat Federation and the fighters involved in the bout have already been informed about the decision”

Responding to this Brave CF commented, “Brave Combat Federation respects AIMMAF’s decision and acknowledges the Commission’s fair treatment of the subject, as well as its quick response to the athletes, the promotion, and the fans.”

Responding to the overall situation Aditya PS, President of AIMMAF, said “Yes, we do accept the goof-up was on our end but it must be noted that none of the officials were from AIMMAF. We had specially brought in officials from the IMMAF and had veteran referee Marc Goddard for the event. The judges too were sent by the IMMAF. We did sanction the fights but we did not allow our officials to conduct the event as we really weren’t experienced. We accept our mistake but we are working to make sure such mistakes don’t happen again.”

Impact of AIMMAF

AIMMAF is not an old body. So it as an organization hasn’t achieved much. However, they have created one genuine major change in the Indian MMA scene, that is, they have managed to establish a competitor to AIMMAA.

The good thing about this competition is that there is no longer one singular powerhouse in the world of Indian MMA. There is a popular saying that goes “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” With competition, the two powerhouses will keep each other in check; making sure that no one manages to dominate fighters or gets away with bullying, unlike in the early days. This makes the entire Indian MMA scene better for fighters.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We all, at some point in our lives, have heard about this third law of motion of Mr. Newton. So, while this split of power created a more friendly environment for some fighters, it made a few others more competitive and divided the fighters. This division of fighters was exploited by many local promoters.

The merger of WMMAF and IMMAF

The two world bodies are merging together to get Mixed Martial Arts legitimate recognition as a sport. This is expected to create a strong movement in the Indian MMA community as both AIMMAF and AIMMAA are in some way or the other associated with the two organizations. Daniel Isaac, however, refuted all those claims and said, “It does not affect AIMMAA. We are the oldest and largest operating MMA organization in India. We are the sole representatives for IMMAF in India since 2014. We are happy to accommodate martial artists and athletes from all regions of India to join AIMMAA.”

Overall, these two organizations have had their own impact on the world of MMA and have played an important role in shaping up the MMA community. What happens in the future is something which I doubt anyone can predict.

In the next and final part, we talk about the revival of SFL and the future of the Indian MMA community.

The post History of MMA in India Part 5: AIMMAA and AIMMAF appeared first on Cageside Press.

We ended the last part with the fall of SFL in the year 2013. After that, the MMA scene in India came to an abrupt halt. SFL decided to host events in the USA, leaving the Indian market hanging out to dry. From 2014 to 2016, they held a mere five events in India. Even in those five events, they didn’t allow certain fighters, like Manjit Kolekar, who had demanded their previously promised money to compete in their events. Recalling that time, Kolekar says, “It was a dark and sad time for many Indian MMA fighters. The entire MMA movement in India had come to a halt. SFL did host a few events but they never gave me a fight.”

Even the fighters who had good relations with the company were not allowed to fight in other promotions. Rajinder Singh Meena opened up about those times and said, “SFL wasn’t the only promotion in India which stopped pushing events. Many promotions lost stability and caved in. Once in a while, a random promotion would just pop-up, host an event and then vanish in thin air. To top it, these promotions didn’t even guarantee pay. Back in those days, even SFL hosted only a few events in India.” This entire market crash left the Indian MMA space active and dead at the very same time. The MMA scene was functioning and was active on paper because of some event or another constantly happening, but at the very same time, all these fighters were signed to exclusive contracts which confined them to a small sector. This resulted in Indian MMA fighters having no room for growth.

In an interview with TFG, Indian MMA fighter Bharat Kandare opened up about how he had to give up an opportunity to fight in the UFC. “In 2014, I got an offer from the UFC through Somesh—the owner of Superhuman Gym. We accepted that offer and also had our opponent finalized. He was the semi-finalist of TUF China, and the fight was to take place in Macau. But UFC told us that Daniel Isaac had threatened them with dire consequences if they signed me as I was under contract with SFL. In spite of giving multiple release requests, SFL did not release me, and Daniel didn’t let my career progress and wasted precious years of my life. But I will get there sooner or later.” All of this resulted in the crashing of the structure created by SFL. This fall also started a new chapter in Indian MMA history.

It was during this time that the Indian MMA community stepped outside its bubble and showed the world that Indian MMA was more than just a freak show.

Please keep in mind that many things were happening at the same time when SFL fell from power. The MMA community was divided into clusters and each group/individual had their own story. We cannot cover each one of them and hence will cover the ones who made a strong impact.

Evolution

Flashback: In the last part, one of the events was the walkout of Jitender Khare. During SFL’s 2012 run, Khare along with his Evolution team walked out of SFL. After that walkout, no one from Evolution competed in the Super Fight League.

During the 2014-16 market crash of Indian MMA, the most active MMA cluster from India was Evolution. Opening up about his decision, Khare said, “I had some ideological differences with SFL, and hence I decided to stay away from the organization.” Khare also made it clear that he did not keep track of what was going on in SFL since he left.

Khare created his own team. He created the entire structure of Evolution and crafted it his own way. So when SFL left the Indian market, Evolution became one of the major powerhouses of Indian MMA. By 2014, they were very active. “I don’t exactly know what was happening in SFL, but we as a team were very active. Since 2014, we have competed in WSOF, Brave, KHK amateur, Boreno FC, Ultimate Beatdown, Warrior FC and many other international promotions.”

Khare is known for diligently working on his team and cutting himself off from the rest. “I try and steer clear from politics. People try and try to drag me in but I have so far managed to stay away from it,” said Khare. “This sport is not governmentally authorized, and everyone involved is self-proclaimed. People just like calling themselves something to add importance to their name. This is the reason why I stay away from people.”

The most popular Evolution fighter was Chaitanya Gavali. Gavali was one of the first Indian MMA fighters to secure a win in international, documented pro MMA events. He started his career as a Judoka and proceeded to make his switch to Mixed Martial Arts in early 2012. An accomplished grappler, Gavali, in a span of three years, managed to compile a record of 5-1. In his six-fight career, Gavali competed in promotions like Ultimate Beatdown, Warrior FC, and Boreno FC.

It was after this that he got the big call to WSOF Global Championship 1: China. This made Gavali the first Indian MMA fighter to compete under WSOF banner. This was arguably the biggest stage at which an Indian had competed in the year 2015. Gavali lost via submission, but he did manage to create a way for many others.

Superhuman and UFC Fighter Development

Superhuman MMA is currently one of the most popular gyms in India. Home to the first ever Indian UFC fighter, Bharat Kandare the gym was set up in the year 2011 with the aim of promoting MMA as a mode of fitness. Superhuman soon took a dive into the world of pro-MMA as they started signing people up. They gained a major push in 2015 as they successfully managed to set up the fighter development program.

What was the fighter development program?

Somesh Kamra, co-owner of Superhuman, was in touch with UFC since 2012. The UFC was interested in breaking into the Indian market. They wanted to promote MMA in India, and for that, they needed an Indian fighter. That is when they connected with Kamra.

“UFC was interested in learning more about the MMA scene in India. It was around 2012 that we connected for the first time. Then after a lot of brainstorming, they came to the conclusion that Indian MMA fighters needed a fighter development program.” Kamra said “They asked me to pick a few MMA fighters from India. These selected fighters would be sent to the USA to train in the Jackson-Wink MMA gym, all costs paid by the UFC.”

This was by far the best offer any Indian MMA fighter could get. India didn’t have the coaching infrastructure or proper resources required to build UFC-level MMA fighters, so the idea of getting to train in a gym where some of the best MMA fighters of all time had trained was indeed very exciting.  A total of three fighters were sent.

1. Siddharth ChandanshiveSiddharth Chandanshive was the first person who was registered to go to the Jackson-Wink Gym under the UFC’s fighter development program. A former wrestler, Chandanshive started his MMA career in the year 2013 and in a very short span managed to own a record of 5-1. All five of his wins were finishes. He hasn’t competed in any MMA fight since returning from Jackson-Wink. In an interview with Pro MMA Now, he says, “Training at Jackson-Wink was one of the best experiences I have ever had since taking MMA as a career. The atmosphere, people, approach, training, everything was different. The coaches over there were very helpful and shared various techniques which helped us learn a lot. In India, we have all the equipment and the resources to train a fighter but we do not have the coaches which have the experience and skills which they had back there in Jackson-Wink. ‘Ek ache mali ho to bagicha zarur sundar lage ga’ … If the gardener is good the garden shall bloom. This is the situation of Jackson-Wink, they have super coaches and a very good environment, hence fighters over there deliver when they enter the cage to fight.”
2. Sumeet KhadeHe has been the most successful product of the program. Khade started his martial arts career as a kickboxer and later made his switch to MMA in 2012. Since returning from the program, Khade has gone 3-1—all three wins coming via knockouts—and currently holds a record of 9-2. He is now set to compete in the Russian promotion ACB. In an interview with My MMA News, he said, “When I was nine, I started karate and after acquiring a black belt in that I started learning kickboxing. I saw Anderson Silva on television while fighting in the UFC. I was inspired by him and I started to learn groundwork and got involved in MMA.”
3. Bharat KandareKandare was the brightest prospect to be selected to the program. Not only did he hold an amazing record of 5-1, he was also a former SFL bantamweight champion. Before going to the program, Kandare had managed to create waves in the Indian martial arts community because of his stunning win at Ganryujima. Since going through the program, Kandare has gone 0-2. Since then, he has also become the first ever Indian to compete in the UFC. In an interview with MMA India Show, he said, “I was a part of the UFC development program. I thought I did well there and earned the Brave contract. I went to Thailand for a month-long camp and tore a ligament a week before the fight. I didn’t want to back out and took the fight. It’s no excuse. It is a loss and a hurting one. I’m glad the UFC understood my potential and spoke to my team and they decided to give me a shot at Shanghai. It wasn’t pre-planned.”

The fighter development program generated a lot of interest from various sources. Commenting on the way the program went, Superhuman Gym co-owner, Somesh Kamra said, “The fighter development program was a UFC brainchild, and it truly helped the fighters in many ways. When we are thrown in there with the likes of Jon Jones, BJ Penn, Holly Holm etc, there is automatically a WOW and a feel-good factor. With that comes the confidence of performance and obviously the immense learning from masters like Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.”

Independent Fighters

During this time, many Indian MMA fighters created their independent identity in the international circuit of MMA. Many of them simply didn’t join any team or management. They acted alone and made a name for themselves in the world of MMA. Almost all of these fighters were former SFL fighters.  Let’s take a look at the most popular independent fighters of this time:

1. Rajinder Singh Meena

Meena was an accomplished Wushu fighter. He started his MMA career way back during FCC days and was always considered to be one of the better MMA fighters of India. During his run in SFL, he managed to go 5-1 and even captured the SFL lightweight championship. Meena was signed to ONE FC in the year 2015. He says, “I was approached by someone associated with ONE via social media. We connected, and he offered a ONE FC contract to me. I agreed. There was no manager involved.” Meena currently holds a record of 1-4 in the ONE FC and has an overall record of 9-7.

2. Manjit Kolekar

Manjit Kolekar is far and wide regarded as one of the best Indian female fighters. Kolekar started her martial career as a boxer and later made a switch to MMA with the help of her coach. She went 9-0 in the Indian circuit before being called on board to the Invicta FC roster. In 2016, she became the first Indian to compete on UFC Fight Pass. She locked horns with Kaline Medeiros and lost the fight via decision. Since competing in Invicta FC, she has gone 2-0 and currently stands with a record of 11-1. Opening up about her Invicta FC experience, Kolekar said, “Many people boast that they are the ones who got me the contract, but the reality is that I worked hard and got the Invicta FC contract all by myself. When I denied all these claims, they accused me of taking steroids. This is what happens when you deal with such managers.”

3. Irfan Khan

Khan is one of the most popular Indian MMA fighters. Trained by Alan Fenandes, Khan started his MMA career way back in 2012 under the SFL banner. He proceeded to rack up a record of 6-0 before being tested against foreign opponents. Khan proceeded to compete in promotions like Brave and Primal FC after his run with SFL. He also competed in the WMMAA World Championship in 2015. Today he stands with a record of 7-6, which includes wins over some of the well-known names in the world of MMA. Opening up about the condition of MMA in India, Khan, in an interview with The Ring Side View, said,  “As of now, the support system and the infrastructure for aspiring fighters in India are not in a good place. There are organizations like SFL & AIMMAA that are trying to bring about some positive changes but we have to wait and watch and see how much support we can garner from the Government. They think it’s a bloodsport and are not very forthcoming with it.”

4. Priyanka Jeet Toshi

Priyanka Jeet Toshi started her career as a kickboxer. She made her switch to MMA after being selected for the MMA show SFL Challengers. After her run in SFL, where she went 1-0, Priyanka returned to ONE FC. Priyanka was the first Indian woman to compete in ONE FC and the first Indian to secure a win in the promotion. She currently holds a record of 3-3. Toshi has managed to change a lot for women in the Indian MMA community. Toshi opened up about her journey in an interview to Sports Keeda and said, “As a fighter, I always try to develop myself technically, physically and mentally. It is quite a demanding game where we need to give our full focus – both physically and mentally. I had a kickboxing background before I entered MMA, so I was fine with stand up. But I had to learn ground right from the scratch. I have grown up as an MMA fighter and have learned to be stronger and wiser through my failures and losses, both professionally and as a person.”

5. Nelson Paes

Nelson Paes started his MMA career on a very low note in SFL going 0-2. He soon left the organization, and his career took a turn. Paes bounced back from his losing streak and went on a three-fight winning streak competing in the Middle Eastern promotion Desert FC. He currently stands with a record of 3-3 (1NC). Paes, in an interview with Pro MMA Now said, “I started my MMA career with raw talent. I had no experience as an amateur and had never been involved in any combat sport. I directly got involved with some of the highest ranked fighters in India, hence I lost, but slowly I started learning and learned from my mistakes. Sure it would be great to have the tag of ‘unbeaten’ next to my name, but I just look at myself in the mirror and tell myself, ‘Hey Nelson, you are destined for bigger things just be honest to yourself, work hard and stay extremely focused.’ This helped me a lot in recovering from setbacks. Hence, I could focus on my mistakes, and now I can say I am ready for the challenges of the next level.”

Brave CF

Brave is a Middle Eastern MMA promotion. They launched themselves in 2015, and since their very inception, have been a part of the Indian MMA market.

Brave capitalized on the downfall of SFL by establishing themselves as the promotion to go to in India. They signed up many top Indian MMA fighters like Mohd Farhad and Abdul Muneer. They proceeded to feature many Indian MMA fighters in their early cards. Soon fighters like Muneer, Gavali, Farhad, Irfan and many other free agents had competed in the promotion. They even signed British-Indian prospect Hardeep Rai and Candian-Indian fighter Gary Mangat in their promotion to penetrate the Indian market.

In their first four events, they had the likes of Abdul Muneer, Mohd Farhad, Atif Mohammad, Sunny Khatri and Gurudarshan Mangat compete on their cards. Out of these, only Mangat, Farhad and Mohammad had picked up wins in the promotion.

Their fifth event was held in India, Brave CF 5: Go for Glory. The event featured almost every popular Indian MMA fighter like Bharat Kandare, Gary Mangat, Mohd Farhad, Abdul Muneer, Chaitanya Gavali, Irfan Khan, Nelson Paes, Hardeep Rai and many more. The event wasn’t very successful but did offer Brave an insight into the Indian market. Brave did not associate themselves with AIMMAA but instead joined hands with AIMMAF.

Other Promotions

SFL left an open market. Many promotions tried their hand at the MMA market, but a majority of them bowed down. However, a few promotions did manage to break in.

1. FCC

FCC continued its path as an independent promotion. They continued their work and hosted a total of four events in this span. They didn’t have many events, but they still did manage to stay active. Opening up about what it was like from 2014 to ’16, Prashant said, “We had a major upgrade in the year 2014. We started hosting events on a larger scale. This resulted in a lot of investments and the return usually didn’t cover the money we put in.” In these four events held by the promotion they had not only Indian but also international fighters compete in their events.

2. BOOM IFPL

BOOM became the largest East-India promotion. The promotion started by Ratul Mukherjee was created to promote MMA in East India was one of the few promotions which is still active. Opening up about what was the concept behind the starting the promotion, BOOM IFPL president Ratul Mukherjee said, “Boom MMA is the only MMA promotion which is the face of MMA in Eastern India. Boom MMA started as Fighting King Championship in December 2012. Fighting King Championship now known as Boom MMA introduced the first pro fights in Kolkata in Calcutta Judo Club and entire Eastern India. The event was promoted by me and Nuur Muhammad Bhutia.”

BOOM has played a very important role in the development of MMA not only in East and North East India but also in Bangladesh. Opening up about how he got into MMA, president of BOOM MMA Ratul Mukherjee said, “Contrary to the popular belief that mma is not famous in India. Mixed Martial Arts has taken the Indian sports market by storm. Of course, Cricket is still the leading Sport where money is concerned and backed by Government and big corporates. The reason I got into mma is that India has a history and tradition in combat sports, a person can check the great epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana and get an idea that grappling, striking and submission wrestling they are very much part of our culture. Yes, I have a background in grappling specifically in Judo and fought couple of underground mma fights.”

3. Yodha Fighting Championship

This was an amateur MMA promotion created to uplift the amateur MMA scene in India. It was done to promote the sport of MMA and make sure that amateur Indian MMA fighters have their own league. The concept was to get Indian MMA fighters some sort of experience in MMA before they took a dive into pro-MMA.

Opening up about the promotion, Jitendra Khare, owner of Evolution gym, said, “In India, there is nothing referred to as an amateur MMA promotion. People here just jump in pro-MMA circuit without any experience in the sport of MMA. This is where we go wrong. A fighter needs to develop a basic skill set while he is an amateur and make the switch to pro after getting a basic experience. To create a friendly amateur MMA environment we decided to start YFC.”

Many other promotions came and went. Some hosted many events and all of a sudden vanished, others were a flash in the pan.

The entire Indian MMA scene came back to life in 2017, when plenty happened.

However, our next part will focus on something else. We will cover the story of the authorizing bodies of India. Why did so many people leave AIMMA? What exactly is the story behind AIMMAF? What internal issues were these bodies dealing with?

Time to go behind the curtains.

The post History of MMA in India Part 4: International Growth appeared first on Cageside Press.

In the last part, we learned how money and mismanagement were two of the biggest problems which stood in the way of the Indian MMA community’s growth. Without finances and regulation, the entire infrastructure couldn’t be upgraded, fighters couldn’t go out to train and develop their skills, fighter safety was overlooked, and the Indian MMA community found it difficult to gain recognition overseas.

In this part, we will be focusing on the development of the business side of the Indian MMA structure.

Creation of SFL

The development of Indian MMA in terms of the business it generated has always pivoted around one promotion: Super Fight League, popularly known as SFL.

SFL is synonymous with Indian MMA as it is the only major Indian MMA promotion and was founded by British businessman Raj Kundra and Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt. The aim was to create a promotion like the UFC but with a touch of Indian “desi-ness.”

Raj Kundra

Raj Kundra was a British businessman and an MMA fan who wanted to start his own MMA promotion in India. In an interview with Boxing Insider, he said: 

“I am a huge MMA fan and knowing it’s the fastest growing sport in the world, I would hate to see India get left behind. Through our professional resources and skills, we plan to train and create super fighters out of India. The beauty of MMA is it’s not fixed or staged. The results are unpredictable, and the fighters require more skills than any other combat sport in the world. It gives me great pleasure along with my partner Sanjay Dutt to introduce you to The Super Fight League.”

The statement makes it amply clear that Kundra was keen on investing in upgrading Indian MMA and was going to target both Indian and international audience at the same time. How it went is a topic that we will cover later in our story, but for now, let us focus on the flow of events. Please keep in mind that all of this was happening around the year 2011. By this time, Gym Wars, FCC and many minor gyms come into the picture, and there was no single superpower in Indian MMA.

Association with Daniel Isaac

The most important event in early Indian MMA days was Raj Kundra aligning himself with Gym Wars owner Daniel Isaac. There are no official documents available in public domain about how Kundra and Daniel formed an alliance, but it is rumored that Kundra did a survey on the MMA scene in India. FCC owner Prashant Kumar claims that Raj Kundra contacted him.

“Raj Kundra did contact us and even asked us to join Super Fight League. However, we had a few ideological differences; hence, we didn’t join hands,” Kumar said.

Per Isaac, Kundra contacted him one day via email. “On Saturday, December 10, 2011, at 12:48 AM, I received an email from Raj Kundra saying, ‘I am launching MMA in a big way in India, would like to meet and discuss synergies.’ Raj and I met in Mumbai, he invited me to join the Super Fight League as one of the board members and asked me to take the position of COO of SFL. In 2013, he asked me to take the position of CEO of SFL once Ken Pavia resigned. The rest is history.”

This association was sealed with the appointment of Isaac as the COO of Super Fight League.

Consequences

It brought AIMMA to power

AIMMA was the sanctioning body of Gym Wars created by Daniel Isaac and Alan Fenandes. As stated in the previous write-ups, MMA was not a governmentally-recognized sport; hence, anyone could start an organization and call it the official sanctioning body. However, AIMMA came to prominence because of its association with the sole popular Indian MMA organization, SFL.

A detailed study of the body will be done in the next write up.

It put an end to Gym Wars

Daniel closed down his promotion Gym Wars after signing on as the COO of SFL. This was an important moment in Indian MMA history as Gym Wars was the first Indian MMA promotion. The closing down of Gym Wars also led to all Gym Wars fighters joining SFL.

It brought about temporary unity

Daniel Isaac assuming the role of the COO meant that all the SFL funds more or less came under his control. This access to money allowed him to overpower his rivals and unite the Indian MMA community.

However, this phase of unity was not led by understanding. In fact, it was led by the clout of money. After some time, the community was more forcefully glued rather than organically united.

2012 in SFL

As stated above, SFL was launched with the vision of creating a promotion like the UFC with a touch of Indian culture. SFL was also the first ever mainstream professional combat sports promotion of India. This means the organizers literally had no idea what the reaction of the Indian market would be like. Each event would roughly have around eight fights and most fight cards saw the main event between non-Indian fighters. Each card would have some or the other form of performance, followed by a lot of additional hype around fights and a good deal of investment in entertainment channels.

One could clearly see from the entire set-up of the season that SFL was trying to add the dramatic flair of Bollywood to the sport of MMA. They were trying to sell it as a mixture of pro wrestling and MMA, a move many promotions in the past had tried and met with success. The gimmick was also a safe bet as a large majority of the Indian population had always loved Bollywood-ish drama

Fighters

The 2012 season of SFL saw both Indian and foreign fighters compete in the season. The majority of the fighters competing in the tournament were FCC and Gym Wars vets, while most of the foreign fighters were either very new to the world of pro-MMA or were coming down to SFL to face a step down in competition.

The majority of today’s famous Indian MMA fighters have in the past competed in SFL. Most of these fighters were either trained in the SFL gyms or were a part of the Gym Wars-FCC era, and hence, knew how to compete in MMA, but not too well. The Gym Wars and FCC fighters too hadn’t really competed in documented MMA matches, so they were clearly not up to MMA standards. This was the reason most Indian MMA fighters were not ready for the glamorous push SFL was offering them.

Even in terms of international fighters, SFL didn’t really bring in the best. They brought in Bob Sapp to main event their first event.

Now, who was Bob Sapp? Bob Sapp was one of the scariest MMA fighters back in the PRIDE days. However, he soon realized that he could earn more money if he fixed matches in new promotions and embarrassed himself in the ring. Sapp was a man known for fixing his matches, and guess what happened when he entered the SFL cage for their first event? He lost and tapped out to a takedown.

Yes, you read that right… a takedown! The rest of the fighters brought in were never really in the league of the excellent. The majority of them, like Colleen Schneider, were on a losing streak and were simply looking for a step down in competition.

In fact, in the year 2012, SFL only brought in one quality MMA fighter, Joanne Calderwood.

Reception

The first event of SFL received a ton of attention. Close to 300,000 people watched it live on YouTube. However, the event failed to continue its mass appeal and failed to maintain the viewership. The very next event, the number of viewers fell to less than 3,000. In fact, almost for the entire year, the viewership continued to be in this range.

The fall in viewers wasn’t limited to the internet. There was a drastic drop even in the number of people attending the events. SFL, in the first event, saw an amazingly large gathering of audience in attendance.

The sharp fall in ratings and attendance made it very clear that people only visited the first event because of its grand set-up.

The first event of SFL was attended by many top Bollywood stars, the entire concept of MMA was presented as a super-cool American sport being brought to India and how it will revolutionize the entire Indian sporting structure.

The hype even managed to get MMA fans across the globe excited. However, the first event failed brutally and had the impact of a wet blanket on the audience’s enthusiasm. The fights were horrible, which lead to excessive criticism from various international media outlets. Responding to the statements, former SFL COO, Daniel Isaac comments, “The 2012 seasons of Super Fight League was the beginning of mainstream MMA in India. I was part of the entire operation and event planning on each show. SFL pumped huge amounts of money into SFL 1, 2, and 3,” said Isaac. “The CEO and matchmaker was Ken Pavia from the US. Ken had a history of clashes with the UFC and SFL didn’t realize that by having Pavia on-board SFL as CEO we were not only challenging the biggest entity in the sport [the UFC], but we were taking on his bad blood with them. The rest again is history. I have nothing to say about the criticism that the 2012 season of SFL received except I feel it is all part and parcel of a new sport. The 2012 SFL TV show Challengers brought fighters who were unheard of onto mainstream Indian television.”

This criticism resulted in many international fans losing interest in SFL. The event which was planned to be the glorious start of a new era saw an early crash.

SFL Challengers

SFL Challengers was a reality TV show similar to The Ultimate Fighter. Eight male and eight female upcoming Indian MMA fighters were picked, kept in the same house and were set to compete for, “Rs. 20 lakhs (approx. $30,000 / £22,000) and a three-year contract worth Rs. 25 lakhs.”

The winners of the reality TV show were Manjit Kolekar and Kario Isaac.

However, Manjit Kolekar recently went on record to say that she had in the past not been paid by SFL. She stated:

“All started way back in SFL Challengers—the reality show that I won. The winner of the show was promised Rs. 25 lakhs. But when I won the show, I didn’t get a single rupee. I asked for the money time and again, but they refused to answer my phones or emails. I went to their office every day and fought. At last, they paid me Rs. 5 lakhs. That, by the way, is 1/5th of what they promised. They have very proudly written that they have paid me this or that amount, but the reality of SFL is that they cheated not only me but also several others. They, in fact, were the ones who tried to break me mentally. They wouldn’t answer my phone, kept me on tenterhooks and refused to let me fight outside of SFL for over a year, and apart from that they didn’t even give me a single fight. I would literally beg for fights, but my calls would go unanswered. It may sound rude, but my experience with SFL has been one of the most horrible experiences of my life.”

Whether or not Kario Isaac was paid is something which we cannot confirm. However, many sources have stated that Isaac too wasn’t paid what he was promised.

However, Daniel Isaac denied all these claims. He stated that the fighters were given what their contract stated. He said, “All fighters signed to SFL were explained all the terms and conditions of their contracts, they signed their contracts after understanding details of their paperwork,” Isaac continued, “As long as they were being featured on LIVE tv across India and Asia, as long as they were winning their fights, as long as they were in good books with the SFL they had nothing bad to say. The moment they breached contract terms and walked out on the SFL they started going to the press and media to try and protect themselves. Unknown people who had issues with the SFL management joined in with these fighters and backed up their claims by getting them out into the media. Manjit is a very talented fighter but she unfortunately had some clashes with the SFL and its management due to some contract disputes. I only have good things to say about Manjit and her talent as a fighter.”

Flaws in approach to the sport

Targeting both Indian and international audience at the same time

SFL made a mistake that many promoters in the past had. MMA as a sport was a very new concept. The Indian audience did not know what the sport of MMA was all about, so they had to be introduced to the entire concept. Hence, creating the drama and adding the flair of Bollywood was necessary to attract viewers. However, the majority of the international audience didn’t care about which Indian star was attending the event. So when the cameras constantly shifted between the ongoing match and the Bollywood stars, most overseas hardcore MMA fans found it irritating and eventually lost interest in the promotion.

Making Bollywood the centerpiece of the promotion 

Yes, Bollywood plays an important role in getting things mainstream attention in India, but that cannot be the main attraction of a sporting event. Bollywood cannot be the gimmick one chooses to promote real-life combat. This angle left the majority of the population confused whether it was something like WWE or an actual sport. Plus, neither media nor fans paid any attention to the fighters or the sport as they were busy trying to find out what the stars were saying and will they attend any other SFL event.

When fans realized that majority of the stars were only there to attend the first event, they stopped caring about SFL.

Fighters

Indian MMA was barely half a decade old, in terms of organizing legit pro events, when it was hyped to the moon. No one understood that these fighters weren’t ready to compete on an international platform in front of thousands of people. Indian fighters needed more time and investment before they could be ready to deliver quality MMA matches. However, they did not get that kind of time. This resulted in very boring matches. Another reason for lackluster matches was the substandard quality of the international fighters brought in.

Unrealistic expectations

If you look at the past interviews of Raj Kundra or any SFL investor, you can clearly see that they were investing money to create an Eastern version of the UFC. All of them were boasting about how big the shows were going to be and how they would capture the imagination of the Indian audience. No one seemed to realize that it is not one big step but several small steps which contribute to the final picture. They all built castles in the air which crumbled to bits then the storm of reality struck.

Sadly, no one was interested in first checking out the standard of fighters they were bringing in. No one was interested in starting fighter development programs and no one actually cared about the core substance. All they were doing was adding the razzmatazz of unnecessary drama and hype to the set-up. They expected Indian MMA fighters to deliver while simply ignoring the need to invest in them before they could succeed.

Consequences of SFL’s 2012 run

Promises were not fulfilled

As stated earlier in the write-up, SFL had built many castles in the air. It promised not only the viewers and the media that they will bring in a revolution but also promised the fighters many things. Soon, when the organizers realized that they were not likely to make their expected profits, they decided to cut down fighter pay. They did not pay SFL Challengers winners any money or even their promised contracts. They further went on to decrease fight purse money and this led to widespread disappointment and dissatisfaction among the fighters.

Managers and fighters rift

SFL as a company also acted as the managers of the fighters. They would get the fighters contracts from their own management and work out conversations amongst themselves. It was a complicated structure, we will learn more about it in the next part of our story.

When the company failed to deliver the expected revenues, they started using their managers to trick fighters into signing contracts. This entire incident caused the majority of the fighters to lose faith in the managers.

Khare walk-out

Not much is known about why Jitendra Khare walked out of SFL and AIMMA, but it was definitely because of SFL’s run in 2012. When we contacted him, Khare said, “We had some differences, that is why I decided to leave SFL and AIMMA.”  This also resulted in all of his fighters never competing for SFL.

Chaitanya Gavali says, “The backstage politics around SFL made it hard to find any room for growth as an MMA fighter. Hence, my coach advised me to not compete under their banner and find opportunities elsewhere.”

It was this walk out of Khare which started an entirely new chapter in the history of Indian MMA.

SFL Contenders

SFL as an organization liked to pretend that things are going perfectly well, and that they were never responsible for the failure of the events. But even they couldn’t deny that Indian fighters needed more practice and that they couldn’t have allowed people to compete in SFL solely because their coaches/managers were a part of the company or AIMMA. This is when they created SFL Contenders. Contenders were untelevised fight cards which were held in SFL performance centers to build up the fighters before presenting them to a television audience.

SFL in 2013

2013 turned out to be an important year for Indian MMA. SFL came back stronger than before in terms of depth of talent and better management. They came in with a lot of expectations but were comparatively better prepared. They started SFL Contenders and introduced many changes. They also took a step down in event investments and decided to rent studios instead of mega-complexes.

Changes made in the company after 2012

Bollywood was not the centerpiece of the promotion

This was a genuine piece of good news!

After the disastrous run in 2012, SFL decided to drop the Bollywood gimmick. Whether it was because of lack of funds is something we do not know. This resulted in the promotion of fighters as stars. The move resulted in some fighters, like Ritika Singh, gaining main-stream attention.

Fighter quality was better

The fighters went through a certain training process before being thrown on national television. They attended better camps and were more suited to compete in front of an audience. This move overall resulted in better quality events and even in certain fighters, like Bharat Kandare, evolving as quality MMA fighters.

Better officiating of matches

SFL had been criticized for the way it functioned. They, together with AIMMA, managed to bring in more officials in the MMA community. This better officiating resulted in noteworthy improvement in the quality of fights.

Reception

However, despite all of these changes, SFL failed to generate the promised number of viewers. No factual figures are available regarding the business, but the way SFL silently went out of mainstream media attention suggests that the business was not encouraging. The very limited involvement of Bollywood and mainstream MMA media resulted in this mega crash.

Attack on SFL studio

Sometime in 2013-14, the SFL studio in Mumbai was attacked by some political groups. Not much is known as to exactly when and why the studio attacked but it is rumored that a certain group asked SFL for “protection money.” They warned them that if they don’t give this money out they will attack the studio. When SFL refused to give in, they attacked a live event of SFL. However, a few SFL officials managed to fight them back.

This provoked the group further and they proceeded to attack the SFL studio. So a large number of “party workers” came to the studio with sticks and other weapons; and proceeded to destroy the studio. This costed SFL a lot. Some of the equipment which they had hired from other sets too were damaged.

These events resulted in SFL quitting the already collapsing Indian market and stopping their investment. The damage done was way too much for the company to survive in India. They proceeded to invest in markets overseas.

The great fall of Indian MMA market

The most important consequence of the attack on SFL studio was the exit of SFL from the market in the year 2014. After failing to generate business in India and suffering heavy loss in the attack on SFL studio, they decided to drop the entire market and focus its energies on its events in the USA. This created a vacuum within the Indian MMA community. To understand why this happened, we need to study the various aspects of the problem.

1. SFL had hired all the known MMA fighters in their promotion and had signed exclusive contracts with them. This meant that all the famous Indian MMA fighters, apart from fighters of Evolution Gym and a few other independent fighters, couldn’t fight anywhere other than SFL.
2. Majority of the gym owners and officials were all associated with SFL. They all too lost a major portion of their earnings because of SFL’s exit from the market.
3. One must understand that the entire Indian MMA community was very small. When SFL took over the market, they had brought in almost everyone.

Hence, when they left, the entire market came to a grinding halt.

SFL 2014-2016

In this span of 3 years, SFL only hosted 4 events in India. They barely involved themselves in the Indian MMA scene. However, they did push one event. They tried to bank on an ancient rivalry in the hopes that the event might boost their falling numbers.

SFL: India vs. Pakistan

After failing to capture the attention of the Indian audience, SFL played the trump card of India vs. Pakistan in the hopes of capitalizing on an age-old hostility. They made certain investments in the event and got all the top Indian MMA names a part of the card. Amit Thapa, Abdul Muneer, Mohd Farhad, Anup Kumar, Sandeep Kumar and a few other top Indian MMA prospects locked horns with Pakistani fighters. This card was hyped to be a war and a crusade. However, the fights failed to garner any significant attention, and the market completely crashed for MMA after that in India.

Why did it fail?

India vs. Pakistan is the trump card of all sports in this country. It is the best way to uplift a sport in the Indian sub-continent as Pak-India rivalry is legendary. So why did this card fail?

Mismatches

The SFL management failed to understand that India-Pak matches in other sports matches attracted a lot of attention because of the fierce competitiveness. All the top Indian MMA fighters were facing either debuting or barely experienced Pakistani fighters. It was very obvious that they would lose, irrespective of the way the fight was conducted.

The Indian audience simply didn’t care about MMA

The statement says it all! The reason why the Indian audience engages in other sporting events promoted around the Indo-Pak rivalry is that people know these sports.

Fans get excited about Indo-Pak cricket, hockey, kabbadi or badminton because they understand these sports at least to a certain extent. The majority of the Indian audience confused MMA with WWE, and the rest who cared about MMA weren’t interested as they knew that the fights were mismatches.

This fall of SFL started an entirely new chapter in the history of Indian MMA. Indian MMA was led by various people in overseas promotions. This is when the world understood that Indian MMA fighters weren’t freak show competitors but actual, legit MMA fighters.

The post History of MMA in India Part 3: Rise of Super Fight League appeared first on Cageside Press.

In the last part, we learned about the condition of Indian MMA. It was made very clear that fighters in India have zero to negligible opportunities, fighter safety is pathetic, and the sport isn’t performing well commercially. To understand why this is the case, one needs to study the way the sport has evolved in India.

The sport of MMA in every country has evolved from the existing combat sports culture of that country. It must be noted that no single full-contact unarmed combat sport is responsible for the growth of MMA; it is the coming together of various kinds of martial artforms which leads to the creation of the MMA structure in any place. The martial artforms that come together usually don’t have Olympic representation and aren’t doing great business. In fact, most of the time, heads of sfcuch sports take a dive into the world of MMA just to get fame and to get their original sport popularity.

Since the inception of MMA, there have been unarmed combat sports which have gained prominence. A perfect example of a not-so-prominent-sport which gained popularity because of MMA is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ).

BJJ back in the early 1990s wasn’t as popular or recognized as it is today. It was because of the successful run of many BJJ grapplers, like Royce Gracie, in MMA that BJJ gained prominence across the globe. BJJ is now considered one of the basic martial arts one needs to know to survive in MMA.

Another sport which is gaining popularity because of its involvement in MMA is Sambo. Sambo was a sport which was confined within the former Soviet republics. However, since the rise of fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Vitaly Minakov, Islam Makhachev and other Russian fighters, Sambo is gaining popularity in the martial arts world.

In India too, the sport of MMA began when a member of a kickboxing body decided to try his hand at MMA. His name was Daniel Isaac.

Daniel Isaac

Daniel Isaac was a kickboxer who had also trained in the art of Karate and Taekwondo. Isaac came from a family of martial artists, as his father and grandfather both were martial artists. “I was born into a martial arts family, If you are an Isaac you learn to fight – that’s just it! I was learning how to kick and punch while learning to walk,” said Isaac. “My foundation in the martial arts was in our family martial art of ‘Ishudo.’ To put it in simple terms, Ishudo is a traditional form of modern mixed martial arts. It consists of striking, grappling and ground fighting techniques. I was taught the fundamentals of MMA by my father, the late Grandmaster Solomon Isaac. He organized India’s first No-Holds-Barred [freestyle] fighting tournament in 1987 in Nasik, before UFC 1. I trained in Muay Thai from Master Sken.”

In the Indian MMA community, Isaac is regarded as a pioneer as he established his MMA gym, Tiger’s MMA, sometime in the early 2000s. Tiger’s MMA is the place where India’s first UFC fighter, Bharat Kandare learned what MMA was.

Clash of Champions

Clash of Champions was the first ever pro-MMA promotion based in India. The promotion was founded by Daniel Isaac back in 2004 and held its first event on February 29, 2004. The promotion held a total of six events, with the last being held on April 17, 2007.

The promotion invited not only Indian but also foreign fighters to compete in their events. Opening up about the idea behind the promotion, Isaac said, “I started Clash of Champions to help introduce MMA to India. Between 1998 and 2000, I used to take my students [led by my senior student Alan Fenandes] to wrestling akhadas (training school) where they would have friendly sparring bouts against local wrestlers. This inspired me to start these fights on a more serious level. During those days, I realized that even though Pride, K1, and UFC were being held in Japan and the US and being televised…the Indian audience knew nothing about this new phenomenon called MMA,” said Isaac. “During those days when my students would mix striking, takedowns, and submission techniques in their sparring bouts, the local wrestlers would ask if we were training in WWE techniques.”

In fact, the first Clash of Champions event became a big deal as it attracted a lot of attention. “When the first Clash of Champions was held in Nasik on February 29, 2004, The Mayor of Nasik, Dashrath Patil, attended as chief guest, and fighters from United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, and India competed against each other. Veteran Indian fighters Alan Fenandes and Shafiq-Ur-Rehman fought international opponents at this event and won,” Daniel added. “Clash of Champions always featured a mixed fight card of grappling bouts/ pankration style bouts, kickboxing and MMA bouts. It was my way of helping the audience see the different fighting styles before accepting MMA.” Clash of Champions officially began mixed martial arts in India. Members of this promotion later became the founding members of MMA in India.

Alan Fenandes: Alan was the brightest student of Daniel Isaac. A former wrestler, Fenandes made his switch to MMA under Isaac and competed in a total of five fights. His record today stands as three wins to two losses. He later became a member of AIMMAA and today works as an executive there. He is also one of the referees of AIMMAA.

After the success of Clash of Champions, Isaac decided to take his promotion to the commercial capital of India, Mumbai.

Impact of Clash of Champions

It was the inception of Indian MMA

Clash of Champions was the beginning of MMA in India. These fights were added as records on Sherdog and were responsible for the introduction of the concept of MMA to the Indian combat sports community.

It created the first batch of Indian MMA fighters

As mentioned earlier, every prominent Clash of Champions fighter later went on to become the founding member of the Indian MMA community. Clash of Champions was the platform from where they not only learned about MMA but also showcased their talent. They managed to create the first batch of Indian MMA fighters. These fighters were the ones who passed down their knowledge to their students, who later turned out to become even more successful MMA fighters.

GYM WARS

Isaac alone couldn’t generate the finance required to set up an MMA promotion in Mumbai. That is when he decided to contact his close friend, Jitendra Khare, to help relocate the promotion. Khare came from a Judo background and was aware of the concept of MMA but wasn’t really a part of the MMA business. This invitation from Daniel is what got Khare in the world of MMA.

“Clash of Champions was being hosted with Indian fighters competing against International opponents but apart from the local gym sparring matches held in Nasik, there were no low-level bouts being held to help scout fighters and develop talent,” said Isaac. “In early 2009, Jitendra Khare reached out to me via email. We had been schoolmates in Barnes School, Devlali, where we were part of a Ninja training group and practiced martial arts in my backyard. Jitendra had also been training in martial arts under my dad Grandmaster Solomon Isaac during his school days. Then after much discussion and planning, Jitendra and his partner Sudipto invested their own money and launched Evolution MMA in Kandivali West, Mumbai, on December 2, 2009. Tigers Gym worked in association with Evolution MMA to introduce MMA training in Mumbai, and I brought a team of Tigers Gym fighters led by veteran Indian fighter Alan Fenandes to feature MMA and BJJ demonstrations at Evolution MMA between December 2 and 8. Alan started teaching BJJ, and I was teaching MMA striking techniques at Evolution MMA, Mumbai. We used to travel from Devlali to Mumbai every weekend to teach. We had a good relationship with the owners of Evolution.”

Now originally Gym Wars was a promotional tool used by Evolution MMA to increase its popularity. The concept of Gym Wars was to invite fighters from other gyms to compete against Evolution/Tigers Gym fighters. The fights would take place in Evolution’s gym. This was done to bring in more clients to the gym. “Even though membership was stable at Evolution MMA Mumbai, we [Jitendra, Sudipto, Alan and I] started discussing some radical new ways to attract members. I suggested that we invite fighters/trainers from other gyms in Mumbai to fight our guys, the strategy worked…soon fighters from different gyms in Mumbai started making their way to Kandivali, Mumbai, to compete against our fighters. This is how Gym Wars was born.”

Consequently, Gym Wars started gaining a lot of attention. This move brought in a major change. In the beginning, the Gym Wars fights were conducted in the most informal fashion possible. The fights took place in small closed rooms on mats, and fighters fought with pads on. They weren’t really MMA fights, but more like exhibition matches, meant to attract customers. However, as the events gained more popularity, the setup improved. “Soon Gym Wars became a platform for amateur fighters to test their skills in MMA. We used amateur MMA rules and provided sparring gear, doctors, first aid, and an ambulance for fighters. After a few events, we started attracting sponsors who paid for video editing and fighter incentives including cash prizes and trophies. Soon, international fighters started making their way to compete at Gym Wars…fighters like Mohd Shahid who now heads Brave MMA as their CEO first competed in MMA at Gym wars. Bharat Khandare, the first Indian national to compete in the UFC first fought in MMA at Gym Wars. Manjit Kolekar, India’s first female fighter to compete in Invicta FC first fought in MMA at Gym Wars. Ritika Singh, India’s first MMA fighter to have a successful career in movies first fought MMA at Gym Wars. These are just some of the successful MMA fighters who first began their career competing at Gym Wars. Gym Wars began as an MMA gym promotional stunt, but turned into a foundation platform for future MMA fighters in India.”

Popular Fighters

Gym Wars got a lot of attention in the Mumbai martial arts community. Being the commercial capital of India, Mumbai also managed to get in some amount of money in the MMA world. The fighters who gained popularity because of fighting in Gym Wars became the first batch of local MMA gym founders and creators of regional promotions. Some of these fighters have even established themselves as powerful names in the MMA community.

The most popular Gym Wars fighters are:

1. Shafiq Rehman: He started his MMA gym Xtreme Fight Federation (XFF). Today, XFF gym is considered as one of the only few legit training camps in the country. Shafiq is still a significant name in the Indian MMA industry.
2. Shashi Sathe: He started his own MMA promotion, Real Cage Predator (RCP). Though the promotion failed to generate business, it is still one of the few promotions which hel legit matches that helped fighters improve their record on Sherdog.
3. Mohammed “The Hawk” Shahid: Today Shahid is the CEO of Khalid Bin Hamad Al Khalifa MMA (KHK MMA), Bahrain, and the President of Brave Combat Federation, but not many know that he made his MMA debut in Gym Wars. Shahid has also played an important role in the development of Indian MMA, a topic which we will cover later.
4. Chaitanya Gavali: He was one of the first fighters from India to win at international promotions against international fighters. In his great career, he competed at many international platforms which include WSOF Global Championship in China. Gavali also competed in the first largescale Indian MMA event, SFL 1.
5. Manjit Kolekar: She gained mainstream attention after winning SFL Challengers. However, not known to many is that she started her MMA career in Gym Wars. She also became the first Indian to compete on Fight Pass when she fought for Invicta FC.
6. Ritika Singh: Though Ritika didn’t have a great fighting career, she became the most famous Indian MMA fighter ever because of her run in the film industry. She has also won a mention at the 63^rd National Film Awards (India) for her role in Saala Khadoos.

Impact of Gym Wars

It made Mumbai the center of MMA activities

Isaac’s shift to Mumbai attracted the attention of many martial art bodies to the sport. The videos of the fights were uploaded to many social media platforms. This resulted in Mumbai becoming the hub of MMA. This is also the reason why many early top MMA gyms are based in Mumbai and early top fighters started training in Mumbai.

It marked the beginning of Daniel Isaac’s rise to power in the world of MMA

Gym Wars was the only MMA-esque promotion in India. Daniel Isaac was the owner and also the head coach. After starting Gym Wars, he was approached by Raj Kundra, and this collaboration resulted in Issac becoming the powerful name who ruled the Indian MMA scene for 3 years.

Introduced women’s MMA

One of the major consequences of Gym Wars was the inception of women’s MMA in India. The first match was held between Manjit Kolekar and Ritika Singh and was won by Manjit.

FCC: Full Contact Championship

FCC: Full Contact Championship was India’s second professional MMA promotion founded by Prashant Kumar in the year 2009. FCC was India’s promotion that worked to advance MMA in India. Clash of Champions was limited to Nasik, and major competitors came from outside India. It was FCC which brought out fighters from the interiors of India.

“I was always into combat sports. I started taekwondo at a very early age and proceeded to obtain a black belt in the sport. I later practiced kickboxing. I always wanted to know what freestyle fighting would look like. That is when I read about the concept of MMA from a magazine called Black Belt. I learned about the UFC and decided to start my own professional MMA promotion in India,” Kumar said.

Before starting FCC, Prashant was employed with an advertising company and had been a part of many successful ad campaigns. Prashant knew how to create a company; however, running an MMA promotion in a country like India meant the owner had to participate beyond just pumping in money.

“Back then, no one in India really knew what MMA was. So I explained the entire concept of MMA to fighters and even promised them training but not many showed interest.  This is when I started going to the interiors of the country to find fighters.”

Differences between FCC and Gym Wars

FCC held legitimate full-fledged MMA events

Gym Wars held MMA-like events. As stated earlier, they really weren’t complete MMA events but more of exhibit bouts masqueraded as MMA fights. FCC events were MMA events. They were sanctioned, recorded, given a proper ring and had a sporting environment.

FCC paid fighters

FCC brought in the concept of a fight purse. As stated earlier, Gym Wars originally only paid the main and co-main event fighters. FCC brought in the concept of paying fighters for competing.

Prashant Kumar adds “I wanted to create an environment where fighters can grow. This was only possible if I gave them the resources to grow as fighters. The fight purse varied from fighter to fighter. Senior and experienced fighters were paid more, and beginners were paid less.”

FCC brought in raw fighters

FCC was the first promotion in India to give non-MMA fighters the opportunity to compete in MMA. On paper, the move sounds bad, but it brought a lot of attention from non-Olympic fighters to the sport.

Popular fighters

1. Rajinder Singh Meena: Meena became the most successful fighter of FCC. A wushu practitioner, he was handpicked by Prashant Kumar. He was also responsible for the growth of MMA in the wushu community.
2. Sumeet Khade: Sumeet started his martial arts career by training in karate and kickboxing. He later made his shift to MMA under the FCC banner. Khade is one of the most popular MMA fighters in India today and currently holds a record of 9-2.
3. Mohd Farhad: Farhad is young and hence most seem to think he belongs to the second generation of Indian MMA fighters. However, that is not the case. Farhad started his MMA career in FCC.
4. Priyanka Jeet Toshi: Priyanka gained popularity after she became the first Indian woman to rack up a win on a major international circuit in 2015. She was amongst the first Indian women MMA fighters.

Impact of FCC

It created competition for Gym Wars

Despite not being exactly same, FCC did manage to become the biggest rival to Daniel Isaac-owned Gym Wars. In fact, there was a time when FCC was more popular than Gym Wars because of its pay structure and the flexibility it offered fighters.

It divided the MMA community

The creation of FCC resulted in a rivalry—the rivalry between FCC and Gym Wars. Its one major drawback was that it divided the MMA community. This was the first of many splits in the Indian MMA community.

It took MMA beyond the Nasik-Mumbai bubble

As Prashant Kumar stated earlier, he had to go to the interiors of India to get fighters into the MMA world. He traveled to many states to recruit fighters for his promotion, in the process spreading more information about MMA across the nation. This resulted in the involvement of many niche martial arts practitioners as they decided to try their hand at MMA.

It campaigned for fighter safety

Fighter safety was never really a talked-about topic early in the Indian martial arts circuit.

“Fighter safety is something which the martial arts community in general never paid attention to. When you talk about the early Indian MMA fighters, you talk about karate artists and kickboxers. These people had to pay to fight in a tournament. In these tournaments, they barely had any infrastructure, much less anyone to take care of the fighters. I wanted to change this situation. That is when I decided that I will take care of fighters’ safety when they step in the ring,” says Prashant.

Revived professional MMA scene in India

Since the wind-up of Clash of Champions, there was no pro-MMA promotion in India. The events hosted by FCC, in a way, revived the entire professional MMA scene in India.

The financial position of MMA

The biggest problem faced by the MMA community back then was the same that they are facing today–the shortage of money. Money is that integral constant which makes the equation right. It is a factor which doesn’t entirely make the structure work, but at the very same time, without it, the structure will absolutely not work. More money in the system meant there was more money for fighters, promoters, sports promotion, coaching, infrastructure, fighter safety, and it allowed a basic upgrade for the Indian MMA community.

However, the problem was that neither gyms nor promotions nor even fighters could manage to recover the money they were investing, much less generate any profit. Opening up about fighter pay in the past, Invicta FC fighter Manjit Kolekar says, “Pay has always been an issue. Back then, it was like fighting for free, the amount we won would barely cover our traveling expenses from the venue to home.”

This sounds very unfortunate for the fighters, but one must keep in mind that the promoters themselves didn’t make any money. Prashant Kumar says, “Each event required a lot of money, and there were barely any sponsors who would associate themselves with the sport. So I had to save money from my monthly income to host MMA events. These events would not recover the money I invested. So in the early days, I had to wait for months to host another event.”

This clearly proves that the Indian MMA community back then had no money to grow. They had to all rely on MMA and carry its banner across in the hope that someone would notice it and invest in the sport.

However, back in 2009-10, the entire sport of MMA was undefined, and the number of people actually interested in the sport could all fit into a WhatsApp group. On top of that, the athletes themselves came from home sports which barely had any recognition. This meant that the style of fighting they used was something which most potential audiences didn’t understand. This all made it very difficult for anyone to find a sponsor.

Fighter safety

Fighter safety had two phases to it:

1. Medical facilities

The biggest consequence of not having proper sponsorship was the lack of a proper medical setup at MMA events. Barring a few promoters like Prashant who ensured basic medical facilities, no one in the business cared about fighter safety. And after a point, even these promoters could not provide facilities. This was a very scary situation because fighters put their bodies on the line when they enter a cage. Anything can happen, so there needs to be a proper medical facility at such events which can make sure fighters don’t end up with any damage beyond repair. The situation was even scarier in India because MMA was (is) not recognized as a sport. If anyone were to die in the fight, the sport could have been banned forever in this nation.

2. In-ring safety

In India, the sport was very new. That means everyone involved in the sport was learning. This, unfortunately, included referees and cornermen. So there were cases in which referees would fail to understand what fighters were going through, which resulted in some brutally late stoppages. These situations could have been avoided had the officials received proper training, but that clearly didn’t happen. It must be noted that this problem was not the consequence of lack of funds, but the root cause was the lack of regulation of the sport.

Sanctioning Body and Regulation

During the Gym Wars days, there was no recognized sanctioning body. The regulation of the sport was non-existent, and the events held barely had any supervision. Usually, the referee and the judges were part of the promotion and were self-proclaimed experts. The sport was very new; regulation was not something many cared about. This laid-back attitude towards regulation and authority body was what cost the Indian MMA community later.

The lack of sanctioning body also meant that promoters back then could get away with anything. There were several instances where some individual would host an MMA event, and when it failed, he would refuse to give fighters their promised money. The Indian MMA fighters bore the worst brunt of these practices, and this attitude originally laid the seeds of resentment between MMA fighters and promotions.

However, certain events like Clash of Champions were always sanctioned. Daniel Isaac says, “In those days, there was no such thing as a sanctioned event since the sport was unheard of, and people were watching this spectacle of different stylists competing against each other in a ring (we didn’t have a cage back then). However, the All India Kickboxing Council (which was later renamed All India Mixed Martial Arts Association) and its officials directly supervised and organized this event. All basic protocols of health and safety were followed by doctors and an ambulance present at the venue.”

Impact on modern MMA

Clash of Champions pioneered a sport which was later carried forward by FCC and Gym Wars. Clash of Champions was the promotion which originally brought in people who could promote the concept of MMA in India.

FCC and Gym Wars are by far the most important pre-SFL era promotions. The two led a revolution in the world of Indian sporting and started a movement which later became a structure that provided employment to thousands of people. It is their effort which laid the foundation of MMA in India. It is essential that people recognize and appreciate the efforts put in by both Prashant Kumar and Daniel Isaac.

Unity

As stated previously, the Indian MMA community was much divided from the very beginning. Most fighters, gym owners, and managers never got along and were never together. None of them realized that by engaging in petty quarrels, they were the ones who were suffering. This division was later exploited by various promoters and other shrewd managers. This system of blocking and fighting is prevalent in many countries but the amount of politics involved in each move was exceptionally high in the Indian MMA scene. However, just like regulation and fighter safety, this problem too was ignored by the Indian MMA community.

At the end of the day, the Indian MMA community was in need of a sponsor to back them. They wanted to level up and grow. Everyone involved wanted to make MMA their source of income. For that, they needed a strong support. That is when a foreigner arrived…..

Click here for Part 1

The post History of MMA in India Part 2: The Early Days appeared first on Cageside Press.

Even today, Mixed Martial Arts is a foreign concept to the Indian population. The sport is very niche and gets zero mainstream attention not just in India, but across the world. So obviously when the sport was introduced in India, the technical support and the foundation required to run the sport wasn’t available in this country. However, this did not stop a few people from taking a dive into the unknown. The people who took the risk have today managed to create a structure around which MMA in India loosely revolves.

Before we analyze that structure, we need to understand two things:

1. Since the inception of the sport, the Indian MMA community has failed to create a stable mechanism for the sport. The sport is not organized. Nor has the Indian MMA community created a clear path which one can follow to get into the world of MMA. You start from nowhere and you end up nowhere.
2. MMA is not a government-recognized sport in India. That means MMA fighters are not recognized as athletes and aren’t eligible for the same benefits and support that other athletes get from the Indian government. MMA is not illegal, but at the same time, it is not recognized. This lack of recognition has resulted in not having a proper governing body over the sport. This means there is not a single commission that can represent the Indian MMA community to the government. This lack of a proper entity has been the leading factor in creating the current structure of Indian MMA.

What does the Indian MMA structure look like?

The Indian MMA structure is comprised of five pillars:

1. Fighters
2. Gyms
3. Promotions
4. Management
5. Governing bodies

These five are the basic pillars on which Indian MMA, in fact, MMA in general, stands. Each pillar, with its own identifiable weakness, makes some contribution to the Indian MMA community.

1. Fighters

A sport revolves around athletes. It is the fighters who run the machinery of the sport which generates business. The position of a sport in an area can be easily understood by studying the condition of athletes practicing that sport, the background these athletes come from, and the way they are treated by the people who run the structure of the sport.

The majority of the fighters in India cannot make a living in MMA. Most of them make their switch from a different combat sport to MMA. In fact, the early batches of Indian-born-and-bred fighters were all originally wrestlers or kickboxers.

Fighters in India have time and again complained about mental and emotional harassment from organizations. They are usually signed onto long-term contracts and in most cases aren’t even given a copy of the contracts. They are sometimes even subjected to bullying and are forced to share a certain amount of their income with sponsors of the gym they fight for.

Revealing the condition of fighters in India, Invicta FC fighter Manjit Kolekar said, “In India, the fighter treatment on every end is pathetic. Promotions fail to understand that we are humans and not machines. Their expectations are unrealistic. Outside India, we are treated with respect. We get a basic health checkup, even if we win and aren’t hurt badly. We also get medical coverage, and our health is taken care of. However, in India, once the fight is over, most promotions don’t even bother to check on us.”

Kolekar’s opinion is seconded by many of her counterparts. In fact, some fighters in India are also charged money if they want to fight.

ONE FC fighter Rajinder Singh Meena said, “When we go outside India, we understand how fighters are actually treated. Here in India, a fighter has to pay for everything starting from camp and nutrition to traveling. Everyone comes and asks for money from us. It is only if we win that we can make a little profit.”

Most fighters in India are not highly educated. They cannot read the legal contracts. Hence, when they sign a document they usually are not aware what terms and conditions they are agreeing to. However, this is only one aspect of the problem.

“The problem isn’t solely about us misunderstanding the contracts. There are very few opportunities available for fighters in India. Most fighters are usually frustrated because they don’t get a chance to fight and showcase their talent. On top of that, they have no support from their family. So the very thought that they’ll get to fight excites them and they end up signing contracts,” Manjit Kolekar said.

It isn’t uncommon to find an Indian fighter stuck with a long-term contract which blocks them from taking newer opportunities. Such contracts have played an important role in shaping the current scenario of Indian MMA, a topic which we will soon cover.

The Indian MMA community has zero money for fighter investment. The community isn’t backed by any big sponsors willing to invest money in the fighters. Therefore, the majority of the fighters cannot afford to go outside India and obtain specialized training.

This has resulted in fighters not being able to understand the way a good MMA fighter trains, which leads to most Indian MMA fighters being one-dimensional.

At least on paper, this looks like the core issue, but gym-owner Nitesh Yadav adds, “The entire one-dimensional issue could have been easily tackled if the gyms allowed their fighters to train at other places and enabled them to develop skills that they could not in their own gyms. However, the Indian MMA community is so fragmented that the entire culture of teaching new skills to a fighter from another gym is non-existent. This division has cost a lot to Indian MMA fighters.”

2. Gyms

Gyms produce fighters. Gyms provide a fighter with the training required to become an MMA fighter. In India, gyms can be classified into two kinds:

Coach-led gyms

Fighter-led gyms

During the early days, there were only gyms led by coaches. However, as the popularity of the sport grew, more and more gyms started adding MMA to their activities as they wanted to attract clients. This resulted in them hiring fighters who could help create MMA camps in their gyms. Let’s take a closer look at the two types of gyms:

Coach-led Gyms

In these gyms, as the name suggests, the coach not only designs the training schedule but also owns the gym. These gyms usually also act as training camps when Indian fighters have to go for major fights. Usually, these gyms also develop great fighters.

They manage fighters, train them, employ them and in some cases even provide a place to live. In fact, the first batch of international Indian MMA fighters were all from coach-led gyms.

Jitendra Khare, the owner and head coach of Evolution Combat Sports Academy, said, “I have traveled to the USA, Thailand, and Brazil to learn the art of Mixed Martial Arts. This has not only made me aware of the international MMA scene but also given me access to some of these promotions. Hence, I can get my fighters fights on the international MMA circuit.”

During the Indian MMA market crash of 2013-2014, it was gyms like Evolution that kept the Indian MMA scene alive by sending their fighters abroad.

Coach-led gyms are also considered stable because the one who teaches you is not only a trained professional but also has to keep his business alive. That means they most likely won’t leave the place overnight and will also provide proper guidance.

Fighters tend to change gyms very frequently. If you go to a fighter-led MMA gym, you run a certain degree of risk because there is definitely a probability that the fighter leaves the gym. However, a head coach and owner of the gym won’t be closing down the gym if a fighter leaves as they too can train their clients.

Fighter-led Gyms

There are two types of fighter-led gyms: those owned by fighters and those not owned by fighters.

Let’s starts with fighter-led gyms owned by fighters.

Fighter-led and owned gyms at the moment are some of the most sought-after gyms by Indian MMA fighters. This is so because these gyms understand the position of Indian MMA fighters and are comparatively more open to fighters’ demands.

Nitesh Yadav, the owner of Combat Sports Academy, said, “In India, there is no single gym which can provide every skill required to become a successful MMA fighter. Gym owners like me, who actively fight, can understand this. Hence, unlike other gyms, we allow our fighters to train at different places and even try and provide them early support, which is required to make a successful career in sports.”

The second type of gym is a fighter-led gym which is not owned by fighters. These types of gyms are the most popular MMA gyms in the country. These gyms were originally created for fitness purposes but as the sport gained popularity, they started hiring MMA fighters to provide training in their gyms.

The problem with such gyms is that they make many promises to the MMA trainers, which they later cannot fulfill. This causes the trainers to leave their gyms and thus, the entire MMA structure crashes, resulting in heavy losses for the gym owners. Most of these gyms do not adhere to proper regulations too. However, such gyms do provide fighters a source of income.

Fighters get the opportunity to work and train at the same places. There have been instances where fighters have tried to unite under a single brand but have failed to continue with training sessions at the gym failed to generate enough funds to pay them.

Fake Gyms

As MMA gains popularity many gyms and clubs are masquerading as training centers. Many of them are even backed by “certificates” from “official organizations.” We will talk about these “certificates” later, but for now, let’s try and understand how one differentiates between a fake and a legit gym.

Jitendra Khare says, “In the age of the internet, I find it astonishing that people are so easily scammed. They need to inquire. If a gym is boasting that they can train people in MMA, then who is the head coach? What are the credentials of that coach? Who is he? Has he ever fought an MMA match before? Do basic research before joining a gym.”

3. Promotions

Mixed Martial Arts promotions can be classified into two kinds: amateur and professional.

Amateur

Amateur promotions in India can be further classified into two kinds: ones which governing bodies run and the ones which run independently. Alan Fernandes, the founding member of All India Mixed Martial Arts Association (AIMMAA), says “MMA is known now in the country. Something that was unheard of when I first started competing in 2004. MMA is here to stay but it is a serious sport and people cannot judge it just as an entertainment sport or a quick way of making money. Indian MMA will only grow for the better if it is regulated, sanctioned, and governed by individuals closely related to the sport with a national body like AIMMAA. I personally feel there is a lot of work to be done but we are on the right track for sure. There are finally divisions of amateur and professional fighters in India.”

Governing Body Amateur Leagues

Two of the largest MMA bodies in India, All India Mixed Martial Arts Association and All India Mixed Martial Arts Federation, run their own national championship in India. The two bodies host the independent national championship sanctioned by different governmental bodies. Every year aspiring fighters take part in the national championship to try and create a name for themselves in the independent Indian MMA circuit.

Independent Events

These are events organized by independent promoters. The independent amateur scene is a bit murky as there is no proper regulation to it. However, some promotions have managed to establish themselves as good amateur leagues and decent training grounds for Indian MMA fighters. These promotions keep on popping up here and there. The owner of Evolution Gym, Jitendra Khare, said “If we have to develop quality MMA fighters in India, we need a defined amateur program and league for future fighters. Amateur fights help in developing their skill set and evolve as a fighter.”

Professional

At the present moment, the professional MMA scene in India is dominated by Super Fight League (SFL). Since 2017, SFL has been hosting an annual league which begins in early February and goes on till mid-March. Avi Mittal, Director of Super Fight League, says the organization is glad that they have this support. Opening up on this condition he says “We are glad and are proud to be backed by strong sponsors as an Indian MMA organization. This is because they have a belief in us and we do our best to live up to their expectations. We always support all our fighters Indian or foreign. We believe in giving them an opportunity to showcase their talent on this national platform and let the world acknowledge their talent.”

Rajinder Singh Meena says, “SFL is the only major player in the Indian market today. However, they just host events in the league. For the rest of the year, we see a random promotion come and host an event and then disappear. There is no consistency in the market. On top of that, promotions expect us to sign long-term contracts with them.”

The owner of Full Contact Championship (FCC) and one of the founding members of the Indian MMA community, Prashant Kumar, too, seconds Meena’s opinion.

“There are very few opportunities available in the Indian MMA market. The market has no money,” Kumar said. Elaborating on his own position and that of most other promoters, Prashant adds, “One needs to have the backing of a strong sponsor to host successive events. MMA isn’t generating any profit at the present moment, which means not many sponsors are available. Therefore, most promoters are forced to spend large amounts of production cost from their own pocket. When ticket sales and sponsorship money fail to recover that amount, most promoters stop producing events after one attempt or go for a long break, save money, and then host more events.”

The entire process of generating the production costs takes a lot of effort. However, even if a fighter is lucky enough to manage to get a fight with a promotion, that does not guarantee that the promoter will pay them.

Opening up about her past experiences, Manjit Kolekar said, “There have been instances where I have been promised stuff which I have not received. Forget the “win bonus” they promise, promotions have failed to give me basic fight purse money. We pay for camps, have to take care of nutrition and invest in other things only to be denied basic pay.”

A number of Indian MMA fighters have faced this problem at some or the other point. Mayur Bansode points out that the major problem was misguided expectations of the MMA market.

Bansode said, “Promoters need to think before they promise stuff to MMA fighters. Staying realistic is necessary. MMA has no major sponsor; hence, one cannot simply promise a bunch of things to fighters and then back off. It is necessary that before a person jumps into the MMA business, he/she studies the market.”

Another major issue faced by most events is fighter safety. One can possibly even ignore the fighter pay, as almost everyone involved knows that Indian MMA has no money. However, when a fighter enters the ring, he literally puts his body on the line. Under no circumstances can fighter safety be ignored. However, the casual attitude most promotions have towards it is scary. Prashant Kumar says, “The most basic requirement from any event organizer is that there should be an ambulance in the arena, a doctor and a hospital nearby to make sure fighters stay safe. They put their lives on the line. If anything were to happen to even a single MMA fighter the consequences for the entire community will be severe. I have been to a few MMA events in India and the fighter safety in there is pathetic. Referees do not know how to do their job and allow fighters to take unnecessary career-threatening damage.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INSF40Yxzz8

The above video stands as a perfect example of how fighter safety is neglected in India.

Responding to the criticism, one of the founding members of All India Mixed Martial Arts Association and SFL referee, Alan Fernandes says “Criticism is always there whether you do a good job or have a bad day at refereeing. The fact that I get to referee is a privilege and I grow with criticism. I take pride in my work. Criticism only helps me, it doesn’t demoralize me. It also keeps oneself on their toes…shows your work is being watched and judged by one and all (even when they have no clue about the nuances of the sport). For the record, referring is a thankless job but I do it through my passion for the sport. Criticism is a tiny snippet of the kind of abuse and wrongful accusations we as refs get in line with our job and people forget that we are human too.”

The quality of refereeing and fighter safety have been among the most talked about topics in the Indian MMA community. This has resulted in a slow but steady change in the attitude of organizers.

Prashant adds, “At FCC events, I make sure that there are an ambulance and a doctor present near the ring. The nearest hospital too has a deal with us, and we also cover the damage a fighter takes in the fight.”

This policy is also followed by Yoddha Fighting Championship (YFC) and some other major promotions in India. However, Nitish Yadav, SFL fighter, said “Almost all of this is on paper. A fighter needs help from the promoter not before but after the fight. They need to take responsibility. We are fighting for them, under their banner. This is the minimum they owe to us.”

 4. Managers

Managers play a very important role if a person wants to make professional combat their career. They get you sponsors, fights, help you with legal work, explain the contracts and also make sure their fighters don’t end up being blocked or scammed by organizations.

Most gyms in India, early on in the career of a fighter also act as managers. For example, Jitendra Khare gets his fighters events on the international circuit and also takes care of their paperwork. He says, “I get my students fights, take care of sponsors and talk with promotions early in their career. I do the job of a manager but that is only till the time they begin to get big contracts.”

However, their role in the career of MMA fighters has been largely criticized by most fighters. Manjit Kolekar says, “A fighter survives on their talent. Promotions approach them based on a fighter’s record and his achievements. If you work hard, you can easily become very successful in this field. In fact, managers charge unnecessarily high fees and add to the mental pressure. Instead of helping us, they join hands with promoters and block fighters. Yes, an MMA fighter needs a manager but not from the very first day. Today I fight in foreign promotions, which means I have to deal with a lot of paperwork. Hence, I need a manager but early in your career you don’t need one.”

Rajinder Singh Meena, when questioned about the role managers have played in his career, informed he was approached directly by ONE FC and no manager played a role in getting him a contract said, “A member of ONE FC’s management approached me on Facebook. No manager was involved in any conversation I had with ONE FC. You don’t need managers early on in your career. You need to work hard.”

However, denying the role played by managers would be wrong.

Both Manjit and Rajinder were the best Indian MMA fighters and were exceptionally skilled. Therefore, the two were contacted directly by international promoters. Most other fighters will need managers, maybe not early on, but they surely will. That being said, the entire structure of management needs to change.

Managers clearly need to specify to MMA fighters what their job will be and not just use vague terms to keep them in the dark. Also, fighters should go for a background check before appointing someone as a manager. Mayuri, Manjit’s friend and also her unofficial manager presently, said “There needs to be a bond of understanding between the manager and the fighter. Managers need to understand that fighters are human beings too and need to offer them the necessary support. Yes, MMA fighters need managers. Maybe not early in their career, but they sure do.”

Mayuri essentially much summed up the entire position of Indian MMA managers in India.

Somesh Kamra, the famed manager of the first-ever Indian UFC fighter, Bharat Kandare, agrees that fighters in past have been treated badly and have been cheated.

“If you study the history of individual top Indian MMA fighters you can easily understand that at some of the other point they have been cheated by their managers. Their anger is justified. However, if we as a community have to grow we need to learn from our past, be more careful and grow beyond our past mistakes,” Kamra said.

5. Governing Bodies

MMA is not a recognized sport by the Indian government. That means, even I could start a body today and call it the official governing body of MMA.

However, over time, today India has evolved two major MMA bodies; AIMMAA and AIMMAF. AIMMAA has been a part of MMA since the very inception of MMA in India. AIMMAF was created in 2016. A detailed study of the two bodies will be covered in the upcoming parts of the write-up.

Some organizations attach themselves to these bodies, others create their own bodies and yet others just don’t care about sanctioning bodies. These two organizations have contributed to the world of Indian MMA.

• How did Indian MMA end up in this state?
• Who was the brain behind these two bodies?
• How did MMA begin in India?
• How did Indian fighters get international attention?

The answer to all these questions is history. The entire history of Indian MMA will explain how the sport was established, and how this structure was created. We will cover the history of the sport in 5 parts, each part covering one chapter of this fascinating story.

The post History of MMA in India Part 1: Current State appeared first on Cageside Press.