Hi UG,
I've been lurking on this forum for a while now and just wanted to say hello. Curious to know if there any Indians on this forum? I mostly use the app and keep checking the UG almost every 2 hours. The fact that the fighters post here and the forum posters post some of the most awesome gifs (Including the "In" gifs lol) makes it even more interesting.
In a country where sports just means "Cricket", there's hardly any combat sports fans leave alone MMA fans even though India does get atleast a medal or two and a medal in boxing at the Olympics.
I was hooked on to MMA after watching the movie "Warrior" (Cheesy I know). Someone posted on the Movie trailer that one of the lead actors (not Tom Hardy) looked like Chael Sonnen and the rest is history haha. So yeah, I credit the movie and Chael Sonnen for my interest in MMA. I have attended only one event live which was One FC in Singapore (the one in which Aoki defeated Boku to win the title) and it was awesome.
Oh, and I am a HUGE Frank Mir fan (I've seen the "Frank Mir is the devil" threads here and they are hilarious).
Also, I must say that the UG has true MMA fans who can even watch SFL even though I am Indian. I can't get myself to watch SFL due to the unintentional comedy that happens in the SFL (The Funny commentary, the ring announcer etc).
So yeah, Just wanted to say a big Hello to the UG :D
Do any of your friends know what MMA is, or is it like in the US in the mid 90s, grouped in with pro wrestling on people's heads, if they know it at all?
Welcome fren.... tell us more about MMA in India.
Welcome to the UG. MMA is spreading across the globe. Hey, what do you know about indigenous fighting systems within India? Are they still practiced? Do you seem them as possible new tactics for current MMA fighters?
Also, why am I getting an error message when I reboot my computer?
Haha, I think you need to disconnect your Keyboard and press F8 while booting.
Man, Kirik responding in my thread wow!!
Yeah, If I show an MMA fight to anyone people usually ask if that is real and not scripted like WWE. But soon they do realize that it isn't scripted.
Wrestling and Boxing are popular mainly in the northern states of India (like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh). The Wrestling schools here are called "Akhada" where lots of body builder types wrestle each other covered in mud (dry mud, so as to learn to get better grip even when slippery). Lots of such wrestling (or "Kushti" as it is called) schools in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (Mainly northern states). And with India winning 3 medals and the team finishing 6th overall at the recent Budapest world wrestling championships, I can only see the sport growing. But in India, there's only one popular sport which is cricket. Cricketers here earn MUCH more than UFC Fighters (Tall claims I know but the Top 5 Indian cricketers earn more than the Top 5 UFC Fighters as they do loads of commercials and play matches every week)
Indians don't have much of an appetite for Combat sports cos maybe we are lazy in nature. We'd much rather study and become an accountant or an IT guy who does a desk job and has a comfortable life. Also, not many parents want their kids to learn boxing etc, they'd rather their kids just study all the time since the competition for good education (limited number of seats in good colleges) is crazy. But the recent performances at the Olympics in Boxing and wrestling are changing that. But the lack of facilities and awareness is a major hindrance. There's hardly a boxing/kick boxing gym even in major cities.
Sony Six in India is the official broadcast partner in India. UFC 145 (Jones vs Rashad) was the first show to be broadcast here. I was visiting India from Singapore (Used to work there) and saw the 145 Promo and was excited! (It had great music too, from "Nuttin But Stringz"). Thanks to Sony Six, we get to watch live events and TUF (On the same day) in HD for 50 INR (90 Cents) a month!!
I've tried to learn more and more about MMA (And UG has helped me a lot in this regard). I've "got" lots of old MMA Shows (Last 6-7 Strikeforce and WEC shows) and haven't missed a show since 141. I watch One FC regularly and a bit of bellator (Difficult, since there's no coverage of bellator here).
To answer Tiresias, I am from the South of India (Andhra Pradesh). I can speak English,Hindi/Urdu, Telugu, Tamil and Spanish (Level 1; Hablo Castellano, pero un loco).
I'll have to get up at 6 in the morning to watch tomorrow's Fight Night 32 Card (Belfort vs Henderson) but I can't complain when I get to watch all the events for 90 cents a month (in HD too) :)
Also, if I may add that when Dana was talking about an year ago of holding an event in India and making TUF India I thought that was a bad idea as there's hardly any popularity for combat sports (like boxing,wrestling etc, leave alone MMA). I think there's atleast 15-20 years for combat sports and MMA to become popular here. I hope to become a Manager of some of the Indian fighter and become the Indian Ed Soares (LOL).
Hope my post answered the questions that were posted above.
Desifighter is the best 13'er eva!
Welcome to the ug. There are many people on this forum that just try to get a reaction by saying something stupid.. try to ignore them =]
Desifighter - Haha, I think you need to disconnect your Keyboard and press F8 while booting.
Man, Kirik responding in my thread wow!!
Yeah, If I show an MMA fight to anyone people usually ask if that is real and not scripted like WWE. But soon they do realize that it isn't scripted.
Wrestling and Boxing are popular mainly in the northern states of India (like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh). The Wrestling schools here are called "Akhada" where lots of body builder types wrestle each other covered in mud (dry mud, so as to learn to get better grip even when slippery). Lots of such wrestling (or "Kushti" as it is called) schools in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (Mainly northern states). And with India winning 3 medals and the team finishing 6th overall at the recent Budapest world wrestling championships, I can only see the sport growing. But in India, there's only one popular sport which is cricket. Cricketers here earn MUCH more than UFC Fighters (Tall claims I know but the Top 5 Indian cricketers earn more than the Top 5 UFC Fighters as they do loads of commercials and play matches every week)
Indians don't have much of an appetite for Combat sports cos maybe we are lazy in nature. We'd much rather study and become an accountant or an IT guy who does a desk job and has a comfortable life. Also, not many parents want their kids to learn boxing etc, they'd rather their kids just study all the time since the competition for good education (limited number of seats in good colleges) is crazy. But the recent performances at the Olympics in Boxing and wrestling are changing that. But the lack of facilities and awareness is a major hindrance. There's hardly a boxing/kick boxing gym even in major cities.
Sony Six in India is the official broadcast partner in India. UFC 145 (Jones vs Rashad) was the first show to be broadcast here. I was visiting India from Singapore (Used to work there) and saw the 145 Promo and was excited! (It had great music too, from "Nuttin But Stringz"). Thanks to Sony Six, we get to watch live events and TUF (On the same day) in HD for 50 INR (90 Cents) a month!!
I've tried to learn more and more about MMA (And UG has helped me a lot in this regard). I've "got" lots of old MMA Shows (Last 6-7 Strikeforce and WEC shows) and haven't missed a show since 141. I watch One FC regularly and a bit of bellator (Difficult, since there's no coverage of bellator here).
To answer Tiresias, I am from the South of India (Andhra Pradesh). I can speak English,Hindi/Urdu, Telugu, Tamil and Spanish (Level 1; Hablo Castellano, pero un loco).
I'll have to get up at 6 in the morning to watch tomorrow's Fight Night 32 Card (Belfort vs Henderson) but I can't complain when I get to watch all the events for 90 cents a month (in HD too) :)
Also, if I may add that when Dana was talking about an year ago of holding an event in India and making TUF India I thought that was a bad idea as there's hardly any popularity for combat sports (like boxing,wrestling etc, leave alone MMA). I think there's atleast 15-20 years for combat sports and MMA to become popular here. I hope to become a Manager of some of the Indian fighter and become the Indian Ed Soares (LOL).
Hope my post answered the questions that were posted above.
Best 4th post EVAAAAAAAA!!!!
TTT for Supreet and the Pearls Super Fight League Mountain Dew Fighter Prep Point.
Thanks man, I can read and write Hindi, English and Telugu. My mother tongue is Hindi (Spoken in North India) but since I grew up in the South I learnt Telugu and Tamil while growing up in school/college (My Parents cant speak the south Indian languages). Can't write Urdu (It is similar to Arabic in written form) but is similar to Hindi when spoken.
As for Sanjay Dutt and Raj Kundra (Joint owners of SFL); Sanjay Dutt has had connections with the Underworld and Gangster/Druglord of Dubai Dawood Ibrahim and he did store some AK 47 Rifles (12 of them), several rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades (40+) which he passed on to terrorists and which were used in the Mumbai Riots of 1992 for which he was found rightfully guilty albeit 20 years later.
Raj Kundra is a London based Businessman of Indian origin and major stakeholder in Super Fight League (SFL). I believe that he is losing major money in SFL (Although they did sign a multi-year broadcast deal with Star Sports) but I doubt anyone watched SFL in India on TV and I can see them shutting down for good sometime soon. Kundra also owns a stake in the Indian Premier League Cricket Team Rajasthan Royals and was questioned regarding Cricket Match Fixing done by Rajasthan Royals (in which 3 of his players were banned for life). He might also have been involved in match fixing himself but was only questioned and not arrested in the IPL 2013 Cricket Match Fixing Scandal.
Sad that these two guys are promoting MMA in India and due to their shady dealings SFL has been getting some negative publicity. On a brighter note, there was a woman fighter from India who competed in One FC in Singapore and several leading wrestlers have expressed interest in MMA if the price is right so all is not lost yet :)
Good thread. Im very interested to see whats gonna happen with TUF india and TUF china. The first tuf USA was big here and tuf brazil 1 did good to. So hopefully you guys get similar results!
Awesome! I'm an American currently living in Sri Lanka, so I too reap the benefits of Sony Six. You get it a lot cheaper though! I pay 1400 LKR (a little over $10) per month for satellite service, but no complaints here. I admit it's still odd watching the fights early morning.
crowbar -
Haha, I didnt know Zombie Prophet made Non MMA Related gifs too :D.
And as for TUF, I've watched every season of TUF (Yup, Every even the Brazilian ones with the subtitles!!). I was kind of consumed by this sport (and still am like most of us here are) and I keep trying to do matchmaking in my head lol. Have got comozzi, diego sanchez, Khabib, amagov etc to respond to my matchmaking rants/suggestions on twitter (lol). Diego was kind enough to follow me on twitter (Yeah, thats an achievement for me lol). I've also done a bit of reading on MMA (Jonathan Snowden's book Total MMA to get a bit of background on Pride Era etc)and I continue to be fascinated by this sport. Unfortunately for us, only very few in India know what Jiu Jitsu is (Guess some of the Indian fighters in SFL do practice Jiu Jitsu). Like I said before, there' hardly any boxing gyms even in big cities so the question of a Jiu Jitsu training centre is kind of out of question.
As for TUF India, I dont think it will happen anytime soon. We just dont have enough fighters or enough awareness for that season to be a success. They should start out with TUF China, Japan or Korea (They even have enough regional established fighters who can coach against each other) and I think TUF China is next (Had heard news of tryouts a few months back). I'll be going to Singapore soon so hope to catch Saffedine vs Ellenberger.
Thanks for all the kind words guys, much much appreciated!! :)
Where in India?! 
Great post. I recently read a travel book by a British guy that loved wrestling and he passed through India on his quest around the world tracing different cultures attitude to it. Seems there was a big culture of wrestling that is slipping away out there?
Aaron Ramsey > Steven Gerrard - Can you fix the app and the website please?
Haha, well played. :)
Desifighter, welcome. I go to India each Spring to visit with friends in Bhubaneswar over in Odisha. Last time I was there, I was talking to a couple of younger guys (early 20s) about BJJ/MMA and one of them was really excited to tell me that he knew what I was talking about. Then he said his favorite figther was the Undertaker.
You've got your work cut out for you, man. Get on it. :)
By the way, once I learned the rules to Cricket I have to say I found it much more interesting to watch...but it's crazy that those guys are practically worshipped over there.
Test post from the ug app. *Testing * 
yeah I'm Indian as well, there are quite a few of us on thus board
I'm currently in hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). And yeah I agree on people clubbing pro wrestling and mma together. Most people here have a hard time believing that pro wrestling is scripted and when they see mma they ask where's the storyline to this fight? lol. Still a long long way to go for MMA to develop in India. And yes the wrestling schools are not really thriving in the other parts of India but they are doing well in north India and will hopefully keep doing well. The fight culture varies greatly across the country. North Indians have a great build and are slightly short tempered and easy to pick a fight with. They have a long fight culture (especially the castes of rajput, jat, sikhs and kshatriyas) whereas in other parts of the country there's not much of a fight culture. Especially down south (us, the brahmin caste are supposed to study and stuff leaving the fighting to the other castes). Also I believe that a purely vegetarian diet and lack of resources doesn't really help. Also not many of the basic techniques like weight cutting etc are known here owing to lack of knowledge and resources.
I'm enthusiastic about this sport picking up in this country and depending on the circumstances I hope to be the Indian Andre Peteirnaris/Ed Soares or atleast the Ariel Helwani (I'm good at starting feuds lol) of Indian MMA lol.
Oh and I can't fix the website or the app but some of my friends could lol :-)
lol great thread and thanks for sharing Desi