Mixed martial arts fighter Puja Tomar created history when she became the first Indian to win a bout at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on June 9, 2024. The 28-year-old, known as 'The Cyclone', defeated her Brazilian opponent Rayanne dos Santos in the strawweight division (52kg) by a split decision. (More Sports News)
She achieved the unprecedented feat on her UFC debut, but Tomar had to overcome hardships and prejudice at her village to reach where she is, currently.
In an interview conducted by Sony Sports, Tomar opens up on how she took up MMA and what made her choose this sport, despite it being 'unknown' to India.
"I come from a village (Budhana in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh) where girls weren't liked much. On top of that, I was more into fighting," says Tomar.
"Since our village had no liking towards girls, I made up my mind that I would become one who is stronger than guys," she said speaking to Outlook.
Tomar says that the struggles in her family made her choose MMA. "I had always thought of learning martial arts since I was a kid, plus there were some situations that came into play and financial issues that made me pick MMA."
The 28-year-old had learnt wushu but since the sport was not part of the Olympics, Tomar had to let go of it and take up MMA instead.
"I had an Olympic dream but since wushu wasn't in the Olympics then, and my aspirations were big, that's why came into MMA," Tomar says.
With the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 currently hogging the limelight, Tomar believes that cricket does not have a big following outside India.
"Coming to cricket, it's working more in India because we play against Pakistan and the people of this country want to watch these matches. Cricket's following is not that much overseas, but there's a lot more here."
However, Tomar is hopeful that despite UFC still not being keenly followed in India, it will gain traction in the coming years and will go head-to-head with the gentleman's game.
"I feel in the coming years, if a UFC event is held in India, it will match like-for-like with the sport of cricket," she signs off.
