Puja Tomar remembers when Mixed Martial Arts in India was practically invisible. Not anymore. The 32-year-old strawweight out of Muzaffarnagar—who etched her name into record books in June 2024 as the first Indian woman to win inside the UFC Octagon by outpointing Brazil’s Rayanne dos Santos on a split decision—commanded the mat during the UFC India Tour in New Delhi on Saturday. Her mission was straightforward. She wants to convert surging domestic curiosity into an army of world-class fighters. And she wants global infrastructure built on Indian soil to get it done.
The ground reality has shifted fast. Where women once hesitated to step inside a cage, female fighters now flock to combat gyms across the country. Yet enthusiasm alone cannot defend a double-leg takedown. Tomar knows the harsh mathematics of elite mixed martial arts: raw passion cannot bridge the chasm left by amateur weight cutting, haphazard nutrition, and a chronic lack of certified international coaching.
To fix that deficit, Tomar is laying the groundwork to open her own combat sports academy. The gym will coach both men and women, but will emphasize creating a safe, dedicated space for young girls who often face cultural hurdles entering fight gyms. Beyond her private venture, she placed an explicit demand before the world's premier fighting championship: establish a permanent training academy in India where home-grown athletes can spar directly with UFC veterans. Professional combatants receive negligible government funding, leaving the sport dependent on private gyms and promotion-backed development centers.
The fight game, however, remains brutal. Tomar knows both sides of the canvas. Following her euphoric debut win over dos Santos, consecutive bouts exposed severe technical deficits on the ground. Ireland's Shauna Bannon submitted her in the second round in March 2025. Fourteen months later, China's Shi Ming locked in a first-round tap-out at Road to UFC in May 2026. Then family reality intervened. Her mother was hospitalized for an entire month shortly after the bout, forcing Tomar to halt all training camps and step away from the sport entirely.
Now, with her mother fully recovered, Tomar is returning to work. The immediate focus is relentless ground defense: wrestling scrambles and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fundamentals designed to keep her upright and dangerous inside the cage. Her next campaign inside the Octagon will hinge on whether those mat sessions can plug the gaps before the next bell rings.