Indian MMA: Yoddha Fighting Championship Delivers another solid show in Mumbai

YODDHA FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP DELIVERED yet another solid show, this time, at the IHFF expo held in Mumbai.

The event managed to draw a pretty decent crowd and it even had UFC fighter Arjan Bhullar in attendance for most part along with the likes of Brave Combat Federation’s Abdul Muneer and Mohammed Farhad.

The title fights

Two major title fights were on showcase during the event. The first one saw Welterweight champion Suyash Jadhav from the Fit and Fight Club face off against Rohit Nair of Zen Fitness Studio. This was the first title defense for Suyash after winning the title back in April and he was successful at the same.

In the second title fight and the main event of the Amateur card, Aleto Nagi from Combat Academy, Nagaland fought Kishan Gupta of Fit and Fight Club. After five hard-fought rounds, it was Negi who came on top and subsequently crowned the YFC Strawweight champion.

Highlights from the pro-card

The pro-card of the fight night saw some major reshuffling when Nathaniel Caldera was pulled out due to visa issues. Afghanistan’s Fazal Rabi, who was scheduled to face Suraj Bahadur, eventually got a call-up into the main event slot.

Rabi made good use of the opportunity presented to him when he submitted Nelson and made a huge statement. Elsewhere, in the co-main event, Sunny Khatri of Team Relentless secured a win against Hashbulla of Malaysia and put his future opponents on notice.

Amateurs impress on the last day

A string of amateur fighters impressed on the last day of the event. Balakrishna Patange of Zen Fitness Studio showcased a dominant performance when he won his fight by leaving his opponent bleeding.

Monika from Team Dheeth went into war with Kajal Naresh Kumar of Team Genesis, who does strength training at Red Cage and came out winning. Both women showcased a brilliant fight before the judges ruled Monika as the winner.

Team Dheeth had another positive take away from the event when Suhail Solanki also won his fight. As for Red Cage, the loss off Kajal was made up by Basavesh, who improved his record to 6-1 with a win.

Another team that impressed at the event was Kings Academy, Chandigarh led by Suraj Kabir Verma. Sagar, Manish Rawat, Saurabh Nair and Ankit won their respective matches when Karan Mehal had a good fight despite the loss.

Sagar, in particular, pumped up the crowd with his in-cage antics which included a Conor McGregor strut during the pre-match introductions.

Matsung and Mulinuba Molier wrapped up a good night for Combat Academy Nagaland by winning their fights as well when Avizo Lanamai who represented Team Relentless also had a good showing.

A long list of other fighters also contributed in making the event a success story and has left the Indian MMA community asking for more.

Efforts from the fighters

While the fighters who got into the cage had a good share of success, some notable fighters were on the sidelines as well, contributing to making the event a success.

Team Relentless’ Akshata Khadtare was helping out on the cage side by compiling the judges’ score along with Anjali Gupta of Red Cage. Abdul Muneer was also doing his bit as well alongside fellow Brave Combat Federation fighter Paulo Silva. Andrew Canday donned the referee shoes for the event and contributed his share.

Altogether, a huge team effort paid off at the event and the next YFC event is bound to be an intriguing one.