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Pakistan is going slightly MMA mad
As MMA continues to gain popularity across the globe, the sport’s trademark ‘madness’ spreads at an eye-raising rate in Pakistan too
Zohaib Ahmed and Taha Anis
Published in Tribune Labs
“Thora pagal hona parta hai (you need to be a little mad),” says martial artist Shahid Javaid, a crooked smile curling upon his face as he displays the scars he has accumulated over the years during his mixed martial arts (MMA) fights and training.
His smile is almost unsettlingly proud, hammering home the ‘madness’ he is talking about.
As MMA continues to gain popularity across the globe, the sport’s trademark ‘madness’ is spreading at an eyebrow-raising rate in Pakistan too. The once small MMA community is booming.
Along the way, bona fide superstars such as Ahmed Mujtaba and Bashir Ahmed have emerged — further piquing the interest of the nation.
Others have been attracted by the glamour and glitz. “The rise of American promotion of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has helped the sport come into the mainstream,” says 27-year-old Owais Shah, owner of one of the biggest MMA gyms in the Pakistan — 3G MMA. “Others have seen recent Bollywood movies such as Sultan and have been drawn to the sport because of them.”
Mind and body
The growing popularity comes as little surprise when you consider the benefits of the sport. “Not only do MMA fighters improve their physical health and look better in the process, but studies show they improve mentally as well,” claims MMA enthusiast Saboor Haider. “It helps increase your speed of thought as you become accustomed to making split-second decisions — the well being of your bones and limbs depends on it.”
Haider takes a long puff of the cigarette in his hand. “I don’t train anymore,” he adds hastily.
MMA fighter Owais Shah. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
Despite their plethora of advantages, combat sports are still looked upon with suspicion in the country, often associated with promoting and celebrating violence. But those within the community point out that these views are unfounded.
“MMA helps you stay healthy and defend yourself if the need arises,” says Owais, an international fighter who headlined the recent Fighting Alliance 4 MMA event in Lahore.
“Parents sometimes believe combat sport training leads to aggression and violence. In fact, it’s the opposite – it calms you down. Any pent-up anger or frustration that people have is let out on the mat or on the punching bag.”
Out of breath and with his hair covered in sweat, Owais musters a tired but friendly smile. “Look at me. I just finished a training session. Do I look agitated?”
MMA vs bodybuilding
Owais and other MMA fighters boast physiques unlike those seen in regular bodybuilding gyms. They are muscular and ripped but without the mass that defines traditional bodybuilders.
It is clear his muscles are no ivory tusks — his body athletic rather than bloated.
“Why be a show pony when you can be a stallion?” he asks. “MMA fighters are athletes — our cardio and our fitness are both superior to that of an average bodybuilder.”
Like all aficionados, Shah is eager to put forward the benefits of the sport. “Your stamina improves, and you learn self-discipline and respect,” he says. “You don’t get that inside a conventional gym.”
MMA fighter Ahmed Mujtaba. PHOTO: ONE CHAMPIONSHIP
The darling of a nation
In a rundown gym on Quetta’s Kasi Road, fighter Ahmed Mujtaba hits blow after blow on a black punching bag; his breath getting more and more ragged with every punch. The bag — worn-out, torn and dirty — has been Mujtaba’s companion for several years of hardships and struggles.
When his mother stood in the way of his fighting career, he turned to this bag. When he was ruled out by everyone at the start, he turned to this bag. When his victories weren’t mentioned in the media, he turned to this very bag.
The bag, like Mujtaba, has taken a number of beatings in its time but, like Mujtaba, it refuses to give up.
From the day he watched his first martial arts movie at the tender age of 15 and decided to take up the sport, till he won his eighth consecutive fight in November 2015, Mujtaba had been belittled, ignored, taken for granted and asked to quit the sport.
After every win Mujtaba waited for the accolades to come his way. After every win, Pakistan ignored him. The frustration has taken a toll on the 23-year-old, almost turning into resentment.
“I win and I raise the Pakistani flag at a global stage, but I don’t get the adulation afforded to others,” Mujtaba complains. “I’ve sacrificed my social life, I’ve juggled my sporting career with my engineering studies, and I’ve trained full-time even while fasting.”
MMA fighter Ahmed Mujtaba celebrating his victory. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
But one could argue that Mujtaba’s struggle has started to pay off. Mujtaba made a dream debut at One FC, Asia’s biggest fighting championship. Up against local hero Benedict Ang in Singapore, Mujtaba dominated from start to finish in a clash that saw two youngsters pit their unbeaten records against each other’s.
As with every other athlete, Mujtaba too has critics. “The main reason he had won his first seven matches was because of his trainer Ehtesham Karim. Karim ensured that Mujtaba’s opponents were always below-par so that he builds up an unbeaten streak,” said a member of the MMA community, requesting anonymity.
However, even those admittedly harsh criticisms have seized. “His fight against Ang though was superb,” said the same man. “He was up against a very good and similarly unbeaten fighter and he [Mujtaba] absolutely destroyed him [Ang].”
In a moment of passion, Mujtaba had said he would swap Pakistan for a country that appreciates him, but later clarified that it was more of an exclamation of pent-up frustration.
The 23-year-old finally has the adulation that he so craves. He is making appearances on TV shows while his fights have also made it into newspapers and his face is flashed on news bulletins across Pakistan. He is the sport’s first genuine superstar — the nation’s newest darling.
The Godfather
There is often a vexing entitlement among the country’s sportsmen, who feel it is their right as athletes to be supported by the government, not only in terms of facilities but also in terms of finances.
Pakistan’s biggest MMA superstar, Bashir Ahmed, is the refreshing exception to the rule. Widely known as ‘The Godfather of MMA in Pakistan’, Ahmed is the de facto spearhead of the country’s MMA community.
MMA fighter and coach Bashir Ahmed. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
A son of Lahore but raised in Virginia, Bashir is a US Army veteran who had an epiphany while being deployed in Afghanistan and decided that his true calling is in fighting an altogether different kind of fight. And so began a love affair with combat sports.
After being honourably discharged from the army in 2007, he trained in combat sports in Thailand before laying the foundations of MMA in Pakistan. From his dingy gym in the narrow streets of Lahore, which doubled as his home for the first few years, Bashir kicked off a revolution.
Ahmed’s influence has seen MMA gyms pop up across the country — from the sprawling and chaotic landscape that is the city of Karachi to the serene valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan.
But he wants neither help nor recognition from the government.
“Each and every penny in the government’s coffers is taxpayers’ money,” said Bashir. “This is a country where people are devoid of some of the basic necessities of life. MMA is important but not important enough that we go around asking for money that could be better spent on the well-being of Pakistan’s citizens.”
The divide
Sports in Pakistan are characterised by infighting and power struggles, with a pattern that sees two or more groups fighting to take over a sporting body.
Across the globe, MMA is the only mainstream sport that has no government or political involvement, and is instead run entirely by private organisations.
It is, however, not free of politics. Venture beneath its serene surface and a storm is brewing.
Lahore, the epicentre of MMA in Pakistan, is divided into two factions. Cage fighters in the City of Gardens either stand with the Bashir-founded Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan (Pak MMA) or are aligned with Sheikh Sultan Shahid’s Vehshi Championship League (VCL).
Bashir Ahmad watches as young boxers take part in a training session at a gym in Lahore. PHOTO: AFP
The nature of their conflict, in a nutshell, is akin to the ‘MMA vs pro wrestling debate’ that has been bickered over in all corners of the world.
Ahmed and his followers are martial artists through and through. They have little patience for the colours, shenanigans and controversies that sell fights and drive audiences.
In the opposing corner sits Sultan, who during his formative years worked with professional wrestling promotion Rings of Honor. Having learned from the likes of future WWE stars such as Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe in the United States, Sultan is a showman for whom the intricacies and purities of MMA are only peripheral details towards achieving the larger goal — that of putting on a grand show.
The WWE influence is visible in everything the silver-tongued Sultan does. The emphasis on marketing and presentation, the art of pulling crowds, the ability to attract sponsorship, the embellishment of facts, championship belts made from expensive crocodile skin – showmanship at its finest, unapologetic and in your face.
For the purists — for whom the sweat, blood and tears spent inside the ring are all that matter — Sultan’s ideas and innovations are akin to heresy. They know they are part of a sport that is enjoying an almost unprecedented boom globally. Safe in that knowledge, they are willing to wait, preferring to keep the sport in its true form than taint it in search of short-term glamour and glitz.
Together, the two factions can create something truly extraordinary, but there is little indication that they will be working together any time soon. It seems that the only thing that could to be hindering MMA from truly exploding in the country is the MMA community itself.
The fiasco
On July 30, 2016, Pakistan’s MMA movement was put on the map on the national scene when Uloomi Karim defeated India’s Yadwinder Singh and the country’s media took notice due to the nationality of the athletes.
MMA fighter Uloomi Karim. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
However, had they been introduced to MMA roughly 18 months ago, they would not have been so ecstatic. On February 27, 2015 a Pakistani contingent, led by Shahid, was invited to compete against their Indian counterparts in Dubai as part of Super Fight League’s SFL 38.
Fourteen Indo-Pak fighters were pitted against each other, with the Indians taking the tie by a landslide. India’s septet completely annihilated Pakistan’s, claiming a 6-1 win as their sole loss came via disqualification.
A wonderful opportunity ended in humiliating defeat, and fingers for the nightmare in Dubai were pointed at Sultan. By his own admission, Sultan deserves some of the blame, but he claims a lot of his first-choice fighters were not approved by the organisers, that too without providing any convincing reason for doing so.
“I had to field the fighters I had at our disposal, and unfortunately, it did not work out,” says Sultan, sitting in the spacious gym that he had built specifically to train the athletes for that fight. Now the gym is being used to train up and coming MMA fighters who Sultan believes can be the next big thing.
The dark side
While Sultan says the fighters he selected were not approved, others claim some of them opted out due to more sinister reasons.
“The reason many first-choice fighters opted out was because Sultan asked them to take steroids,” said a man involved closely with those fighters at the time.
MMA has had a long and troubled association with drug and steroid use, with several big international names such as Jone Jones and Brock Lesnar being banned for it. Even the premature deaths of 42-year-old Kimbo Slice and 44-year-old Kevin Randleman are suspected to be caused by harmful performance-enhancing substances.
MMA also houses other evils – injuries and infections are not uncommon.
“I broke a few ribs while training once, but I couldn’t tell my family because they didn’t even know I was training to become a fighter,” Mujtaba tells us. “Let’s just say the pain was excruciating.”
As MMA continues to gain popularity across the globe, the sport’s trademark ‘madness’ spreads at an eye-raising rate in Pakistan too
Zohaib Ahmed and Taha Anis
Published in Tribune Labs
“Thora pagal hona parta hai (you need to be a little mad),” says martial artist Shahid Javaid, a crooked smile curling upon his face as he displays the scars he has accumulated over the years during his mixed martial arts (MMA) fights and training.
His smile is almost unsettlingly proud, hammering home the ‘madness’ he is talking about.
As MMA continues to gain popularity across the globe, the sport’s trademark ‘madness’ is spreading at an eyebrow-raising rate in Pakistan too. The once small MMA community is booming.
Along the way, bona fide superstars such as Ahmed Mujtaba and Bashir Ahmed have emerged — further piquing the interest of the nation.
Others have been attracted by the glamour and glitz. “The rise of American promotion of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has helped the sport come into the mainstream,” says 27-year-old Owais Shah, owner of one of the biggest MMA gyms in the Pakistan — 3G MMA. “Others have seen recent Bollywood movies such as Sultan and have been drawn to the sport because of them.”
The growing popularity comes as little surprise when you consider the benefits of the sport. “Not only do MMA fighters improve their physical health and look better in the process, but studies show they improve mentally as well,” claims MMA enthusiast Saboor Haider. “It helps increase your speed of thought as you become accustomed to making split-second decisions — the well being of your bones and limbs depends on it.”
Haider takes a long puff of the cigarette in his hand. “I don’t train anymore,” he adds hastily.
MMA fighter Owais Shah. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
Despite their plethora of advantages, combat sports are still looked upon with suspicion in the country, often associated with promoting and celebrating violence. But those within the community point out that these views are unfounded.
“MMA helps you stay healthy and defend yourself if the need arises,” says Owais, an international fighter who headlined the recent Fighting Alliance 4 MMA event in Lahore.
“Parents sometimes believe combat sport training leads to aggression and violence. In fact, it’s the opposite – it calms you down. Any pent-up anger or frustration that people have is let out on the mat or on the punching bag.”
Out of breath and with his hair covered in sweat, Owais musters a tired but friendly smile. “Look at me. I just finished a training session. Do I look agitated?”
MMA vs bodybuilding
Owais and other MMA fighters boast physiques unlike those seen in regular bodybuilding gyms. They are muscular and ripped but without the mass that defines traditional bodybuilders.
It is clear his muscles are no ivory tusks — his body athletic rather than bloated.
“Why be a show pony when you can be a stallion?” he asks. “MMA fighters are athletes — our cardio and our fitness are both superior to that of an average bodybuilder.”
Like all aficionados, Shah is eager to put forward the benefits of the sport. “Your stamina improves, and you learn self-discipline and respect,” he says. “You don’t get that inside a conventional gym.”
MMA fighter Ahmed Mujtaba. PHOTO: ONE CHAMPIONSHIP
The darling of a nation
In a rundown gym on Quetta’s Kasi Road, fighter Ahmed Mujtaba hits blow after blow on a black punching bag; his breath getting more and more ragged with every punch. The bag — worn-out, torn and dirty — has been Mujtaba’s companion for several years of hardships and struggles.
When his mother stood in the way of his fighting career, he turned to this bag. When he was ruled out by everyone at the start, he turned to this bag. When his victories weren’t mentioned in the media, he turned to this very bag.
The bag, like Mujtaba, has taken a number of beatings in its time but, like Mujtaba, it refuses to give up.
From the day he watched his first martial arts movie at the tender age of 15 and decided to take up the sport, till he won his eighth consecutive fight in November 2015, Mujtaba had been belittled, ignored, taken for granted and asked to quit the sport.
After every win Mujtaba waited for the accolades to come his way. After every win, Pakistan ignored him. The frustration has taken a toll on the 23-year-old, almost turning into resentment.
“I win and I raise the Pakistani flag at a global stage, but I don’t get the adulation afforded to others,” Mujtaba complains. “I’ve sacrificed my social life, I’ve juggled my sporting career with my engineering studies, and I’ve trained full-time even while fasting.”
MMA fighter Ahmed Mujtaba celebrating his victory. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
But one could argue that Mujtaba’s struggle has started to pay off. Mujtaba made a dream debut at One FC, Asia’s biggest fighting championship. Up against local hero Benedict Ang in Singapore, Mujtaba dominated from start to finish in a clash that saw two youngsters pit their unbeaten records against each other’s.
As with every other athlete, Mujtaba too has critics. “The main reason he had won his first seven matches was because of his trainer Ehtesham Karim. Karim ensured that Mujtaba’s opponents were always below-par so that he builds up an unbeaten streak,” said a member of the MMA community, requesting anonymity.
However, even those admittedly harsh criticisms have seized. “His fight against Ang though was superb,” said the same man. “He was up against a very good and similarly unbeaten fighter and he [Mujtaba] absolutely destroyed him [Ang].”
In a moment of passion, Mujtaba had said he would swap Pakistan for a country that appreciates him, but later clarified that it was more of an exclamation of pent-up frustration.
The 23-year-old finally has the adulation that he so craves. He is making appearances on TV shows while his fights have also made it into newspapers and his face is flashed on news bulletins across Pakistan. He is the sport’s first genuine superstar — the nation’s newest darling.
The Godfather
There is often a vexing entitlement among the country’s sportsmen, who feel it is their right as athletes to be supported by the government, not only in terms of facilities but also in terms of finances.
Pakistan’s biggest MMA superstar, Bashir Ahmed, is the refreshing exception to the rule. Widely known as ‘The Godfather of MMA in Pakistan’, Ahmed is the de facto spearhead of the country’s MMA community.
MMA fighter and coach Bashir Ahmed. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
A son of Lahore but raised in Virginia, Bashir is a US Army veteran who had an epiphany while being deployed in Afghanistan and decided that his true calling is in fighting an altogether different kind of fight. And so began a love affair with combat sports.
After being honourably discharged from the army in 2007, he trained in combat sports in Thailand before laying the foundations of MMA in Pakistan. From his dingy gym in the narrow streets of Lahore, which doubled as his home for the first few years, Bashir kicked off a revolution.
Ahmed’s influence has seen MMA gyms pop up across the country — from the sprawling and chaotic landscape that is the city of Karachi to the serene valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan.
But he wants neither help nor recognition from the government.
“Each and every penny in the government’s coffers is taxpayers’ money,” said Bashir. “This is a country where people are devoid of some of the basic necessities of life. MMA is important but not important enough that we go around asking for money that could be better spent on the well-being of Pakistan’s citizens.”
The divide
Sports in Pakistan are characterised by infighting and power struggles, with a pattern that sees two or more groups fighting to take over a sporting body.
Across the globe, MMA is the only mainstream sport that has no government or political involvement, and is instead run entirely by private organisations.
It is, however, not free of politics. Venture beneath its serene surface and a storm is brewing.
Lahore, the epicentre of MMA in Pakistan, is divided into two factions. Cage fighters in the City of Gardens either stand with the Bashir-founded Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan (Pak MMA) or are aligned with Sheikh Sultan Shahid’s Vehshi Championship League (VCL).
Bashir Ahmad watches as young boxers take part in a training session at a gym in Lahore. PHOTO: AFP
The nature of their conflict, in a nutshell, is akin to the ‘MMA vs pro wrestling debate’ that has been bickered over in all corners of the world.
Ahmed and his followers are martial artists through and through. They have little patience for the colours, shenanigans and controversies that sell fights and drive audiences.
In the opposing corner sits Sultan, who during his formative years worked with professional wrestling promotion Rings of Honor. Having learned from the likes of future WWE stars such as Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan and Samoa Joe in the United States, Sultan is a showman for whom the intricacies and purities of MMA are only peripheral details towards achieving the larger goal — that of putting on a grand show.
The WWE influence is visible in everything the silver-tongued Sultan does. The emphasis on marketing and presentation, the art of pulling crowds, the ability to attract sponsorship, the embellishment of facts, championship belts made from expensive crocodile skin – showmanship at its finest, unapologetic and in your face.
For the purists — for whom the sweat, blood and tears spent inside the ring are all that matter — Sultan’s ideas and innovations are akin to heresy. They know they are part of a sport that is enjoying an almost unprecedented boom globally. Safe in that knowledge, they are willing to wait, preferring to keep the sport in its true form than taint it in search of short-term glamour and glitz.
Together, the two factions can create something truly extraordinary, but there is little indication that they will be working together any time soon. It seems that the only thing that could to be hindering MMA from truly exploding in the country is the MMA community itself.
The fiasco
On July 30, 2016, Pakistan’s MMA movement was put on the map on the national scene when Uloomi Karim defeated India’s Yadwinder Singh and the country’s media took notice due to the nationality of the athletes.
MMA fighter Uloomi Karim. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
However, had they been introduced to MMA roughly 18 months ago, they would not have been so ecstatic. On February 27, 2015 a Pakistani contingent, led by Shahid, was invited to compete against their Indian counterparts in Dubai as part of Super Fight League’s SFL 38.
Fourteen Indo-Pak fighters were pitted against each other, with the Indians taking the tie by a landslide. India’s septet completely annihilated Pakistan’s, claiming a 6-1 win as their sole loss came via disqualification.
A wonderful opportunity ended in humiliating defeat, and fingers for the nightmare in Dubai were pointed at Sultan. By his own admission, Sultan deserves some of the blame, but he claims a lot of his first-choice fighters were not approved by the organisers, that too without providing any convincing reason for doing so.
“I had to field the fighters I had at our disposal, and unfortunately, it did not work out,” says Sultan, sitting in the spacious gym that he had built specifically to train the athletes for that fight. Now the gym is being used to train up and coming MMA fighters who Sultan believes can be the next big thing.
The dark side
While Sultan says the fighters he selected were not approved, others claim some of them opted out due to more sinister reasons.
“The reason many first-choice fighters opted out was because Sultan asked them to take steroids,” said a man involved closely with those fighters at the time.
MMA has had a long and troubled association with drug and steroid use, with several big international names such as Jone Jones and Brock Lesnar being banned for it. Even the premature deaths of 42-year-old Kimbo Slice and 44-year-old Kevin Randleman are suspected to be caused by harmful performance-enhancing substances.
MMA also houses other evils – injuries and infections are not uncommon.
“I broke a few ribs while training once, but I couldn’t tell my family because they didn’t even know I was training to become a fighter,” Mujtaba tells us. “Let’s just say the pain was excruciating.”
