Three minutes and 37 seconds. That is all it took for Ritu Phogat to ace her mixed martial arts (MMA) debut in Beijing on November 16. Her South Korean opponent, Nam Hee Kim, had no answer to the Indian’s powerful ground and pound offensive at the event conducted by One Championship, Asia’s largest sports media company. The promoters conduct fights in 11 martial arts, including MMA, kickboxing and muay Thai.
Ritu completed her first takedown in 22 seconds. After being pushed away by her bigger opponent, Ritu stayed calm and kept out of Kim’s reach, till she got the chance for a second takedown, around 40 seconds after the first. The South Korean defended desperately on the mat, well aware of her opponent’s wrestling credentials. But Ritu outsmarted her by stepping back and then charging in from the other side within four seconds, before Kim could even get off the mat. She then started landing punches and elbows on the pinned Kim’s face. After more than 30 seconds of unanswered offence, and with Kim locked in a crucifix position, the referee was forced to intervene and declare Ritu the winner via a technical knockout.
A few days before the bout, Ritu got a message from a fan on Instagram. It read, “Anyhow finish off Kim within the first 120 seconds itself. Else, she will kill you.” That was a big moment for her. “It was such powerful advice from a stranger,” said Ritu. “In the ring, all I could think was to punch her nose off. And that I did again and again.” The 25-year-old said her successful MMA debut was just what she “desperately needed” to prove to herself and those around her that her decision to give up wrestling in favour of MMA was not wrong. Until nine months ago, she was preparing for Tokyo 2020 with cousin Vinesh. Both of them are in the 48kg category.
“Everyone, including my family and fans, wanted to see me continue wrestling, at least until the Olympics,” said the 2016 Commonwealth Games wrestling gold medallist. “But I wanted to bring in honour and laurels in MMA, just as I have done in wrestling. The federation was also quite upset with me. But I did not want to miss this opportunity.” Ritu is now based in Singapore and trains with the Evolve MMA academy.
Strength to strength: Ritu’s wrestling background gives her a strong foundation to build on | PTI
She took a 10-day leave for her sister Babita’s wedding to wrestler Vivek Suhag. When THE WEEK met her in the lobby of a Delhi hotel, Ritu was inquiring about the status of the room she had booked to rest for a few hours before flying back to Singapore. The room was not available for some reason. She was sleep-deprived and hassled, yet, remained calm and kept her voice low. After almost 30 minutes of inaction from the staff, Ritu called the CEO of the hotel, and within ten minutes she got a room. Beaming with relief, she said, “I absolutely loved MMA. So when Evolve asked whether I would like to join them, it was a dream come true.” That, and to avoid competing with Vinesh for the same prize, she said. She is planning to continue in MMA at least until she wins India’s first ever world championship in the sport.
MMA, a full-contact combat sport, incorporates techniques from different disciplines, including boxing, muay Thai, jiujitsu, tae kwon do and wrestling, among others. It allows striking and grappling, both standing and on the mat. As a wrestler, Ritu has a strong foundation to build on. “Wrestling is one of the most important skills in MMA,” said Drian Francisco, WBA boxing world champion and Evolve’s boxing instructor. “Good wrestlers are very effective in MMA as their high-level takedowns and takedown defence often give them the ability to control the bout.” Ritu, he added, is a natural athlete and a quick learner. She is now training to master her kicks and leg movements through muay Thai and grappling, and ground fighting through Brazilian jiujitsu, in addition to boxing, which teaches her to follow takedowns with punches.
She was dominant in her win against Nam Hee Kim | Getty Images
“Thankfully I have never had to take a punch till now,” she said, laughing. Ritu said she was “nervous, scared and cautious to not end up with her nose knocked off” at her first sparring session after joining Evolve. She said she used to watch others and shudder at the thought of her own turn. “But, I think I did well because I remember the coach appreciated me,” said Ritu, the third of Dronacharya awardee Mahavir Phogat’s four daughters. All of them—Geeta, Babita, Ritu and Sangita, and their cousins Priyanka and Vinesh—have carved out their place in the world of wrestling, under Mahavir’s watchful eye.
But, Mahavir, who was portrayed by Aamir Khan in the all-time blockbuster Dangal (2016), is more critical of Ritu’s combat skills. He agreed to her trading the wrestling mat for the MMA ring on condition that she will pursue it wholeheartedly. “She is exceptionally gifted in terms of strength, both mental and physical, but her aggression sometimes comes in the way of her game,” said Mahavir. “She just loses her cool and gets so rough that she ends up losing points, especially in wrestling in which rules do not allow all that.” He admitted he has not figured out exactly how MMA works, but appreciates that it is a combination of different fighting disciplines. Geeta and Babita, too, admit they do not quite understand MMA completely just yet, but have advice for their little sister. “I truly believe that she should work more on ground fighting and knockouts,” said Geeta, the eldest, who won India’s first ever Commonwealth gold in wrestling. “Her hands are stronger than all us sisters combined. When we used to train together at home she always ended up getting fouls because of her aggression, for things like slapping on the head, twisting fingers and punching. In MMA she can use her aggression well.” (See page 102 for box on fouls in MMA.) Geeta, married to wrestler Pawan Kumar and now pregnant, said she is considering following Ritu’s path and taking up MMA once she returns to competitive sports.
Sanjay Ahlawat
During their childhood, Ritu, who gave up education after Class 10, was notorious for taking up fights with “shameless and unrepentant” boys. “She would break their bones and when the teacher would call papa to the school, he would beat her in front of everyone,” said Babita, who won a wrestling gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. “But all the children in the school were afraid of her. Nobody dared defy her.” Babita, who joined the BJP with Mahavir in August, said that the scene in Dangal showing two boys who were beaten up by the sisters was inspired by “Ritu’s antics” and not theirs. Dangal was dubbed into Chinese and released as Shuai Jiao Baba (Let’s wrestle, Dad) in 2017. The film made a little over 01,400 crore and sold 45 million tickets. Ritu basked in the resultant fame when she went to Beijing for her fight. “People really knew me there,” she said. When she went to a local salon to get her hair braided before her match, she was astounded by the welcome she got. “They recognised me,” she said. “They played a clip from Dangal to check if I was one of the sisters. I was so overwhelmed. For them, I was the third Dangal sister who was making it big. I saw my pictures on the front pages of Chinese newspapers and it was a great feeling.”
Ritu’s mother, Daya Kaur, said she is a fantastic cook who makes the best tinde ki sabzi (apple gourd dish) among all the sisters. Her opinion is echoed by Ritu’s sports manager, Jitesh Mehta of Birbal Sports and Entertainment. “She hates eating outside and insists on cooking herself,” he said. “She [once] made us a lip-smacking dinner in 20 minutes. Cooking is therapeutic to her and so is an online game of pool, which we play whenever she is free.” However, her training schedule does not leave too much free time. Her days are packed with sessions on different martial arts and workouts to hone her skills. At times, she stays back at the training centre—about 20-25 minutes from where she lives. She cooks and carries her food to the centre. After returning, she does the laundry and makes dinner before calling it a day. Sundays are rest days and Ritu prefers staying indoors, cooking, cleaning and sleeping. There are days when she yearns for home. Like the days just before her match with Kim when she was unwell. “I have never stayed so far from my family for so long,” she said. “I even spent Diwali by myself and you have no idea how badly I wanted to be back home. I do not have many friends here. Those I do have are from the academy and we socialise on some Sundays when I call them home and cook.”
Bond of blood: The Phogat sisters Sangita, Geeta, Ritu and Babita | PTI
Ritu has always been her father’s darling and her sisters’ “secret agent”. Said Geeta: “Whenever we wanted to bunk our 4am-training, we would ask Ritu to convey it to papa because we were so scared of him.” Sometimes, when Mahavir was not looking, Geeta and Babita would skip a few workouts and plead with Ritu not to give them away. “There was not as much pressure to train on her and Sangita as there was on us,” said Geeta. “We literally had to bribe her to keep our secrets safe,” added Babita. But when it came to conveying her own decision of pursuing MMA, Ritu could not gather the courage to face her dad. “I just could not do it,” she said. “We exchanged places and I asked my sisters to speak on my behalf.”
Almost 90 minutes into the interview, Ritu ordered a cappuccino and asked for seven to eight sugar cubes. “I am not a diabetic. I like my tea sweet,” said Ritu. A daily intake of milk, dal, dahi (curd) and generous servings of ghee, made them strong and tough, said the Phogat sisters. “Our father made us mix and eat dal and dahi in one big bowl everyday,” said Ritu. “Milk was from our own cows and we would consume chicken, mutton and eggs in limited quantities.” Ritu tasted prawns for the first time in Singapore and loved it. “When I sent a picture to my family on WhatsApp, they were aghast,” she said. “‘What are you eating?’ ‘How can you eat this?’ they asked. But I loved it and continue to relish prawns every now and then.” In Singapore, she consumes protein shakes, vitamin tablets and supplements to make up for the nutrition that used to come from fresh homemade food.
When asked to describe herself, Ritu promptly came up with “bindaas, bold and blunt”, and then quickly added, “except in front of my father”. She loves shoes and in the past few months has treated herself to over 15 new pairs. Her most expensive purchase till date has been an Apple Watch which she flaunts proudly, along with the two mehendi tattoos on her hands—one is the Olympic logo and the other is the word ‘Champion’. With the prize money from Beijing (the amount is undisclosed), she is looking at buying “incredible stuff” for her family, including international holidays, and spending the rest on any piece of clothing that catches her fancy, “whether it fits me or not”. Ritu said she had a compulsive urge to shop. “Even if something does not fit me, we are so many at home that someone will take it,” she said. “I have bought so many things I have never used.” In that aspect, she said she is just like her father—“Impulsive. Generous. Carefree.” Ritu loves Bollywood actor Tiger Shroff, rather his body, as she clarified, and hopes to meet him someday. “We will discuss martial arts,” she said.
