The popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (a full combat sport that includes techniques from other sports like boxing, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu) or MMA is so high in the United States that last November, the newly-elect US President Donald Trump was seen attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in New York. Although India is sports-crazy, MMA is relatively unknown and that is a challenge for Siddharth Singh, who quit his job in the UK to become India’s first black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and a four-time world champion who wants to take the game to the grassroots through his Crosstrain Fight Club. Anshul Jubli, 30, who trained at the club created history by becoming India’s first UFC fighter in 2022, is one of his proteges.
Singh himself has won five medals in the Abu Dhabi World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2020, AJP Tour Dubai International Pro -GI, AJP Tour UAE National Pro- GI, AJP Tour Asia Continental Pro- GI, and Abu Dhabi World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2022. Nationally, he won the Indian Championship for the 10th Time in 2023 and was also selected for the Asian Games in China in 2023.
Singh has an interesting story about how Mixed Martial Arts is an indigenous sport. “Many argue that it has come to India from outside but they are unaware that our scriptures suggest that the people here practised malla yuddha (Indian wrestling). In the Mahabharata, the Kaurava Yuyutsu was an expert in hand-to-hand combats,” he says. “Buddhist monks from India engaged in it too and when they travelled to Japan, it evolved as judo there. The Japanese later went to Brazil. Today, it is known as Brazilian BJJ because the Brazilians modified it a bit.”
Getting started
Singh’s association with MMA goes back to school days. A student of Doon School, Dehradun, he started boxing early. “I started boxing at 12 and after six years, I was awarded the best boxer of my school and also shortlisted for the Uttaranchal State Boxing Team. Later, while pursuing my higher studies in the UK, I searched for a boxing gym and ended up in a place where I was introduced to Muay Thai (a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that involves stand-up striking, clinching, and sweeps). I later attended a seminar on jiu-jitsu. So, had not I picked up boxing at an early age, I would not have picked up MMA.”
The next few years were spent in intense training sessions. Back in India in 2012, he started training under Ivan Tomasetti, a five-time world champion and a black belt in jiu-jitsu who was working with the Italian embassy. “I got my brown belt under him. Later, I got my black belt under Elliot Kelly, who is my coach now. So, for 12 years, I have been competing all over the world. In 2021, I received the silver medal at the World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Abu Dhabi,” he says.
The MMA tribe
Along with raising the bar for himself as an MMA coach, Singh is also leaving no stone turned to popularise MMA in the country. At present, he runs Crosstrain Fight Club which through multiple centres trains a set of young and enthusiastic individuals to compete at the highest level. “The club is thriving and is spread across New Delhi, Noida, and Faridabad. What started as a fight club now trains kids from 14 to 16 years of age who are getting prepared for the next levels. We have ensured world-class equipment and graded coaches who have committed their lives to this. Their collective effort has made our academy a club of fighters. Some are professionals while others are amateur fighters,” he says.
And the tribe grows. “Anshul came to our academy when he was 23 and had no experience. However, I spotted his potential and we trained him for seven years. Today, he has become the first Indian male fighter to represent the country in the UFC. He has inspired many fighters and also many parents who are now willing to send their kids to our academy,” says Singh.
Singh, however, regrets the lack of infrastructure in his field. He said they do not get any government support, and private funding is also limited. “MMA is a very complicated sport and you need a lot of infrastructural facilities to train fighters. You need basic equipment, weight training equipment, strength training equipment, boxing equipment, wrestling equipment, jiu-jitsu equipment, and more. Along with that, you need dietitians, special coaches, and mental trainers. We are self-funded. We handpick coaches, our students who train, and become coaches later. But, it will be great if the government and the private players come together in the field and strengthen us. After all, it is a sport with high potential,” says Singh.