Unique: From eager to beat up boys in her village to India’s pleasure at UFC – The Puja Tomar story

Don’t be fooled by the dimpled smile. Behind that cheerful facade lies a combating machine.   

The primary Indian born blended martial arts athlete to compete on the Final Preventing Championship – the world’s largest MMA promotion firm, that includes as many as 11 completely different weight classes – was Bharat “Daring” Khandare who made his UFC debut in 2017. Many others adopted in his footsteps over time, however it wasn’t until June 2024 that an Indian-born athlete lastly had a UFC win. That distinction is held by a feminine MMA star, whose first publicity to martial arts was through Jackie Chan motion pictures in her village in Uttar Pradesh. 

From Budhana to the Octagon: Puja Tomar’s journey

When 31-year-old Puja Tomar pulled off a split-decision win in opposition to Brazil’s Rayanne dos Santos within the 52kg division final yr in her UFC debut bout, she not solely made UFC historical past, she additionally etched the nation’s identify in MMA historical past books. However maybe greater than the rest, it was the validation that got here with that win, that the fighter with a southpaw stance had been ready for her complete life.     

“It was like a dream come true for me. All of the folks there, the foreigners and the media there – they have been all very excited for me and have been speaking about how a woman from India is about to carry out on such an enormous stage. It was an incredible second for me,” Puja advised us in an unique interview from her coaching camp in Bali.   

Jackie Chan and YouTube: How MMA discovered Puja

What is really wonderful is Puja’s life story, which started within the Budhana village in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Rising up, the one factor that Puja realised in a short time was that she would maybe all the time be handled very in a different way, by most individuals, due to her gender. It’s a realisation that dawns on hundreds of thousands of younger ladies in our nation, who nonetheless discover themselves chained to centuries-old customs dictated by patriarchy. For Puja, what was clear from a really early age was that she needed to try to discover a manner out of that life, which was dominated by regressive dogmas. And it was that burning need that fuelled her ardour for martial arts. 

“From once I was very younger, I noticed that boys have been handled higher and given extra significance in our village. I all the time felt unhealthy about this and would ask myself – ‘why am I woman? I ought to have additionally been a boy’. However after that once I began watching Jackie Chan motion pictures, I used to be launched to martial arts. I turned very all in favour of martial arts, as a result of I wished to study the strikes and beat up the boys in my village, in order that I may show that I’m higher than them,” the MMA athlete nicknamed “The cyclone”, additional stated.   

The journey from being Puja to turning into “The Cyclone” was not one thing that occurred in a single day, in fact. At this stage of her life all that Puja knew was that she discovered martial arts to be one thing new and thrilling and one thing she may see herself pursue. However how? Fortunately, although many old-world customs and traditions haven’t but modified in our nation, two extraordinarily massive steps ahead have been the unbelievable attain of the web and smartphones. No matter how small a village or tehsil could be, you will see that folks in India with each. For Puja, these have been a godsend, identical to the arrival of a sure instructor in her faculty.   

“I by no means had any publicity to wrestling or something. I might watch youtube movies and study the method for kicks and punches from there. Then we had a instructor who got here to our college and taught karate to the women as a type of self-defence. And slowly I realised that the aggression that I had in me of eager to beat up boys may very well be channelised into martial arts,” Puja additional stated in an unique interplay with Firstpost. 

Puja now had a plan. She knew that martial arts may doubtlessly assist her change her life. She refused to just accept that her destiny was what was being dictated by the boys of her village. However what may the following step presumably be? 

After being uncovered to karate in her faculty, it was however pure for Puja to proceed to follow that type of martial arts. However she quickly realised that karate was not for her. It was too limiting, too restrictive. Puja was in search of one thing by which she may specific herself. It wasn’t simply an outlet for her aggression and pent-up frustration that she was in search of, she wanted one thing that would effectively and actually consolation and heal her.   

“After I began studying karate at school, there have been just a few inter-school occasions that I participated in. I punched somebody actually laborious in one of many occasions, however as an alternative of being praised, I used to be disqualified from the occasion. I used to be advised – ‘you possibly can’t hit somebody like this’. I advised them – ‘I’ve gained this bout’, however they stated – ‘no, such issues are usually not allowed.’ That’s once I requested them if there’s any sport the place I can kick and punch others laborious, as a result of I wasn’t having fun with the restrictions in karate. That’s when a good friend advised that I ought to possibly pursue the game of Wushu, the place one can punch, kick and topple somebody. That’s how my Wushu journey began and I fell so deeply in love with the game, that I saved fascinated with how I may change into the perfect at this sport.”     

Wushu – it actually means ‘martial artwork’ or ‘martial/navy method’ in Mandarin. Puja had graduated into the following section of her martial arts journey and this was the golden section, as a result of she had discovered her calling. Puja could be simply 4 ft and 9 inches tall, however she reached for the celebs, grabbing this chance with each arms. She went on to change into a five-time nationwide Wushu champion. She additionally represented India on the 2015 World Wushu Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

However life had modified for Puja once more, two years earlier than she went for these World Championships. In 2013, the woman who as soon as wished to beat up the boys in her village, made her MMA debut within the Tremendous Struggle League – one among Indian subcontinent’s first home-grown MMA promotion corporations, which had actor Sanjay Dutt as one among its founders. Puja, hungry for achievement and itching to show herself, managed to make her mark there, registering two knockout wins.     

The MMA athlete, who weighs 52 kgs, knew she needed to maintain evolving, rising, transitioning. And in 2017, she joined ONE Championship – a multinational fight sports activities promotion firm based in July 2011 by Thai Entrepreneur and martial artist, Chatri Sityodtong, who believes that martial arts is Asia’s “cultural treasure”.

This was a critical step ahead for Puja, as she needed to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Singapore’s Tiffany “No Chill” Teo, who has 11 MMA wins and solely 2 losses within the ladies’s Flyweight division and Thailand’s Stamp Fairtex, a Muay-Thai kickboxer, who’s the reigning ladies’s Atomweight MMA World Champion in ONE Championship. She has additionally been the Muay-Thai World Champion and the kickboxing World Champion in One Championship.

However regardless of going through a number of the hardest opponents that the platform may throw at her, Puja stayed focussed and in 2019 she managed to safe a split-decision win in opposition to Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol – an Indonesian MMA athlete who gained a bronze medal on the 2013 Wushu World Championships and likewise participated on the 2014 Asian Video games in her residence nation.     

Puja, who has notched up 9 wins in 12 skilled fights thus far, had already come a great distance since being terrified of the boys in her village in Uttar Pradesh, as a baby, whereas secretly wishing for a unique life. However the journey was removed from being over. Her subsequent cease was the Matrix Struggle Night time – one other Indian MMA promotion firm – which was based in Mumbai in 2019 by actor Tiger Shroff, his mom Ayesha Shroff and sister Krishna Shroff. It’s an organization, that as of March 2024, has hosted 15 premium combat nights. Additionally it is the corporate that one other Indian UFC athlete, Anshul Jubli was related to. At MFN, Puja transitioned right into a win machine. A sequence of wins culminated within the MFN Ladies’s Strawweight Championship at MFN 10 in November 2022. 

Historic UFC debut for Puja

After which in June 2024 got here the largest turning level of her profession – a UFC debut. Years of laborious work, coaching and full and utter devotion to her artwork had lastly paid off. And when that debut bout turned a historic one, with Puja turning into the primary Indian-born athlete to win a UFC combat, Puja knew she had effectively and actually managed to dwell her dream. That small woman in Muzaffarnagar, who went to mattress every night time dreaming of working towards punches and kicks, eager to slay opponents the best way Jackie Chan did within the motion pictures she watched, was in actual fact residing her dream.   

It was a dream that noticed many obstacles, however the one unwavering assist by the whole lot was Puja’s mom, who, in line with ufc.com, all the time had three phrases for her daughter – “Puja, simply combat”. 

“Even earlier than I joined the UFC, there have been a number of challenges that I needed to face on the planet of martial arts. The most important problem was household assist. Aside from my mom, nobody else supported my dream. Most individuals, together with my male kin felt that I ought to search for a authorities job through my Wushu expertise and never do one thing the place accidents are a component and parcel of the job. “Kyon haath pair tudwa rahi hai?” (why are you hell-bent on breaking your limbs?) – I needed to hear all this stuff. However each time I prayed, I may hear a voice which advised me that I’ve been chosen for a a lot larger platform and that I ought to wait and hope,” Puja additional advised us in an unique interplay.     

That voice in her head wasn’t incorrect. Puja, who has had as many as six knockout wins in her skilled profession thus far, isn’t just a shining instance of what’s attainable if a younger girl refuses to play by society’s regressive guidelines, selecting to forge her personal path as an alternative, but additionally an enormous inspiration for younger women, in all places, who’re dreaming of discovering their martial arts area of interest within the one of many hardest full contact sports activities. 

Puja’s dream may need come true, however she hasn’t stopped dreaming. Considered one of her largest hopes now’s to see MMA on the Olympics.   

“It will likely be a really massive achievement. I really feel that MMA ought to positively be a part of the Olympic programme, as a result of it’s an incredible sport. I’ve in actual fact heard some rumours that there could be a chance of the game being added as an Olympic sport,” Puja advised Firstpost. 

One of many largest obstacles going through MMA, so far as potential inclusion within the Olympic programme is worried, is the dearth of a unified governing physique, other than apparent issues like critical bodily accidents and prolonged restoration time between bouts. However that voice in Puja’s head will maintain this dream of hers alive as effectively. That voice which all the time advised her to – “wait and hope”.