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Fight clubs come to life

Though kushti retains its traditional charm, Mixed Martial Arts is here to stay, writes Jayadev Calamur

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The floodlights shine onto centre stage containing a circular ring. But, to the naked eye, it resembles a cage of sorts.

Inside, two fighters are ready to pulverise each other. This isn’t professional wrestling. That became passe when the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) boom hit the United States.

People still watch sports entertainment, but those athletes have different priorities now — they aspire to be MMA stars.

In an interview, Mark Callaway, popularly known as WWE’s Undertaker, rues the fact that MMA wasn’t popular during his heydays. “I love the intensity; I wish it had gained popularity earlier. I would have participated, but now I’m too old and my movements are slow,” he says.

With MMA’s popularity growing, it was natural that the sport would find takers in India. It did in 2009 when Prashant Kumar, an ad-film maker and an avid fan of the sport, started some underground fights in Mumbai. More recently, Raj Kundra and Sanjay Dutt launched their variant of MMA, the Super Fight League.

They pumped in a lot of money and hired fighters from all over the world.

Crowds throng in good numbers and have taken quite a liking to the sport. “MMA is the next big thing, dude,” says a fan at the Super Fight League.

We decide to take a break from the boisterous present and go back in time to understand the traditional form of wrestling.

Kushti, as it’s popularly called, is rarely seen in Mumbai. But, in Chinchpokhli, near the Arthur Road Jail area, you’ll find at least two akhadas, where aspiring wrestlers train for an annual event in Kolhapur, hoping to rake in good money.

Prakash Tanavde, a Kushti trainer, says the best part about mud wrestling was that people played the sport despite the poor money.

When shown an MMA video, he says, “It looks real, but they are mixing too many things up. It is wrestling, boxing, karate, kung-fu. We don’t need to confuse people. The money may be good, but traditional wrestling is an art. Ours is mainly a freestyle art, but I encourage my boys to learn Greco-Roman wrestling styles as well.”

Ad-man Prashant empathises with the wrestlers. “Look, MMA is completely different from what these guys learn in the akhada. I approached several akhada fighters while scouting talent. They wanted to learn different arts, but were reluctant to fight like a mixed martial artist, citing career-threatening injuries.”
Prashant insists that akhada fighters can match the best in MMA.

“One of my fighters, Sangram Bhakre, trained in the akhadas of Kolhapur. Till date he is undefeated. Training him was interesting because in akhada, once your opponent’s shoulders touch the ground, the match is over. However, in MMA it ends with the opponent tapping out to a submission hold. So I had to teach some of my akhada fighters the art of submission because after slamming their opponents to the ground, they would not know what to do!” he laughs.

An akhada fighter, Vishwas Karade, says that while MMA looks promising, he isn’t willing to pursue it professionally. “The money looks good,” he says. “I love this sport and want to make a career out of it. However, I have a family to support. A job as a security guard looks a lot safer than stepping into the ring, not knowing which part of your body could get injured in the next five minutes.”

The Super Fight League also exposed the Indian MMA fighters when they took on Americans or Europeans. They were competing with veterans in their first matches as professionals. Satish Jha, a heavyweight, lost his bout to American Jimmy Ambriz in 14 seconds, while Neil Natasadu didn’t have much luck either with Travis Bell of the United States.

Varun H, a fan, says the way professional fighters train is intense. “Most of them are huge in built, but they focus a lot on their cardiovascular strength as well. This is a sport where stamina plays a huge factor,” he says.

Tanavde however laughs at the suggestion. “My boys may not know kickboxing, but they are excellent wrestlers. Also, foreign athletes appear as though they would put on weight if they stop hitting the gym. But in akhada, the body you get through wrestling and exercise remains for life,” he asserts.

Can it be a considered a career option, given the risks involved? Prashant Kumar is optimistic, “I have utmost respect for the akhada fighters and their faith in Kushti. Nonetheless, if they take the plunge and choose fighting as a career, it is good for MMA. From what I’ve seen, these guys will take to the sport like a fish to water,” he concludes.

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