"From Learning Martial Arts To Protect Her Family To Creating History In The UFC"- Puja Tomar

India announced their entry into the win column of the Ultimate Fighting Championship(UFC) after Puja Tomar’s victory against Rayanne Dos Santos at UFC Fight Night. Puja Tomar became the first Indian Women’s MMA fighter to secure a contract at the UFC last year. In her debut fight against the Brazilian in the Preliminary card of the UFC Louisville, she came out all prepared to show her skill and toughness to the audience in the arena. The fight was a close contest as both fighters were good in their striking game, but it was Puja Tomar whose hand got raised after the fight after securing a split decision victory against her opponent, becoming the first Indian MMA fighter to register a win inside the Octagon.

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Puja Tomar’s introduction to Martial Arts happened when she was just 12 years old; the young girl wanted to become her family’s protector after losing her father at a younger age. After opting for Martial Arts, she became the national Wushu Champion. Then she went on to represent India in the world’s most prominent martial arts organization, the ONE Championship, where her performance wasn’t that impressive, as she lost four out of five fights she had in the ONE Championship. Still, she bounced back from the adversities and became the Women’s Strawweight champion at Matrix Fight Night. For her ferocious power and aggressive gameplay, she earned a monicker, “The Cyclone,” for herself.

“I just wanted to protect my family after my father passed away. So I started to learn karate and kickboxing, and after that, I think I can make my career in martial arts,”
Puja said

Currently, she is training with Soma Fight Club in Indonesia. Another Indian fighter, Anshul Jubli, is also part of the same club and is waiting to get his first win at the UFC, as his debut fight didn’t go his way. He lost to Mike Breeden in his UFC debut.