#TFGinterview: The story of Indian BJJ prospect Anjan Raman and how you can help him

INDIAN BJJ AND MMA PROSPECT ANJAN RAMAN dreams of conquering the combat sports world and he needs your help to do it.

Based out of Bangalore, the undefeated MMA fighter has been consistently training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over four years now. In this span of four years, he represented India on a couple of International tournaments and added some medals to his resume.

Getting kicked out of the gyms

Before he ventured into BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts, Anjan started off with traditional Kushti, which he trained for three years. The shift to wrestling happened after he was kicked out of a gym for probably the most ridiculous reason.

Anjan Raman: It all started when I got kicked out of my gym for doing too heavy deadlifts that were damaging the floors so I remember asking one of the trainers in the gym who was a wrestler at the time to introduce me to the sport. After I got kicked out, so he took me to an akhada for my first practice session where I was thrown in the deep end of a round of sparring with a seasoned wrestler who was half my size. Needless to say, I collapsed after 2 minutes and I realized what true strength is and you can say the rest is history as I fell in love with combat sports and kept at it.

Escape from IT Job and sponsorship issues

An MBA degree holder who did his under-graduation in Engineering, Anjan worked in the IT Industry for some time before taking a leap into the combat sports world. And his family and friends supported this decision. Giving up a well-paying job came up with major monetary constraints.

Anjan Raman: If I can be one of the best in Jiu-Jitsu in a country of over a billion, what would stop me from bringing the same work ethic to making money? But this takes up a lot of time which could be spent perfecting my combat skills so I decided to keep the goal of money in the back seat and gave up any conventional 9 to 5 career to pursue this dream of mine.

I currently work with my dad in his air-conditioning and refrigeration business I make just enough to lead a decent life but what's more important is that the schedule is flexible enough for me to devote enough time for training everyday but being able to save money for international tournaments and training camps abroad are out of my reach financially at the moment but I have been lucky have to the opportunity to train at one of the best gyms in India ICSA and IJJ and had well-wishers and friends who have helped me out in times of need.

Then again, finding sponsors for combat sports in India is easier said than done.

Anjan Raman: It's hard to get sponsors for combat sports in India especially for BJJ even if you are an International level athlete it's a sad state of affairs in this country.

I have seen a lot of wannabe fighters get sponsors just because of the hype they create on social media you can say the real fighters are busy spending their time training while the wannabes are busy clicking pictures but I have realized that some amount of social media visibility is required at least to get sponsors to fund training and competition expenses because I don't care about being famous I just want to be the best in what I do that's.

The MMA journey

While Anjan is concentrated on BJJ at the moment, he has an impressive record in MMA as well. He won two fights at the Yoddha Fighting Championship. He did have his eyes set on the YFC Featherweight title until Dengue struck a month before the fight. He has been away from MMA since and aims to improve his BJJ skills now.

Anjan Raman: Immediate goal is to be on the podium at the Asian Indoor Games in September this year at Turkmenistan and in the Asian games next year in Indonesia in BJJ.

Long term is the IBJJF world's to be able to be on the podium probably being the first Indian to do it and I'm sure it's possible as long as I have Rohit as my coach. I will transition back to MMA when I feel I have reached a world class level in BJJ and use that as my primary strength.

Till now, most of the domestic tournament that he participated was funded by Anjan himself. He received some help from well-wishers, ICSA and IJJ for the international ones. And now, in order to cover his expenses to participate in the upcoming Asian Indoor Games, Anjan has set up a crowd funding campaign on the Make A Champ website. You can help him in his journey by contributing here: Anjan Raman's Make a Champ Campaign. 

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