The Journey so far - In Conversation with Rajinder Singh Meena: Part 2

SEVEN YEARS BACK, Full Contact Championship produced their first ever show from the Famous Studios in Mumbai. Stacked with 10 exciting fights, the show has a huge place in the history of Indian MMA due to various reasons.

One among these reasons was the debut of Rajinder Singh Meena. Rajinder secured a dominating KO win over Ajay Godajkar and this proved to be the start of an impressive career.

Rajinder Singh Meena: I Started MMA at the age of 23 in Mumbai. First I had participated in kickboxing championships. The members of Full Contact Championship then offered me a chance to turn into MMA, where i saw huge number of audience. The ring and people motivated me more motivate to join MMA.

He went on to have an undefeated streak in FCC which saw him secure three wins, all of them coming via stoppages. Soon, Rajinder got himself another platform in the form of Super Fight League, by the time, his life had changed.

Rajinder Singh Meena: As being MMA fighter, my family and friends treat me as a celebrity. The problem I face in MMA is that I mostly spend my time in training and curing injuries.

It did take much time for Rajinder to become a champion in SFL. He became the first ever Lightweight champion of the promotion when he defeated Sandeep Yadav back in 2012.

While SFL and FCC provided great exposure for Rajinder, the first international break for him came thanks to ONE Fighting Championship. In 2015, with a career record of 8-1 to showcase, he made his ONE FC debut against Malaysian star Peter Davis.

The debut did not go as planned for Rajinder, but he took away some precious lessons about the importance of ground game.

Rajinder Singh Meena: There are always major things to learn on international level.  For fighting in international level, we should have knowledge in all combat sports. I’ve been using  stand up techniques  since many years, now i would like to go through the ground game .Since there is a habit of using stand up game now, I have to do more mentally preparation in ground work which is almost a new technique for me.

The second ONE Championship appearance of Rajinder happens on December 2, 2016 and he would be looking to bounce back strongly despite the break. But on the longer run, he has certain plans that he would love to execute.

Rajinder Singh Meena: Other than MMA, I do physical fitness training and give self defence classes in clubs and gyms. I am thinking about training abroad and continuing my MMA practice. My long term plan is to be one of the most reputed MMA coaches in India so that I can produce more MMA fighters in the international level. And want to facilitate more MMA training here as it used to be a problem for me.

When asked to point out an upcoming fighter that he rates highly, Rajinder mentioned the name of Narender Grewal.

Rajinder Singh Meena: I think that Narender Grewal is doing well with his MMA career. He has positive thoughts and is a passionate guy. We are friends and he always give 100 percent in the ring.

The lack of facilities and exposure is indeed one of the biggest problems for MMA fighters and being a fighter himself, Rajinder is aware about these problems as well.

Rajinder Singh Meena: In India, we are facing problems mainly for our training. MMA is a full combat sport and due to this, we have to learn different techniques in different places .So it is a waste of time and money. We don’t have much promotion of MMA in India as well, so we face difficulties to get knowledge and exposure.

With a handful of years still left in his MMA career and an urge to be one of the most notable MMA coaches in India, the name of Rajinder Singh Meena is bound to be written again and again into the folklore of Indian MMA in the coming years.

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