'Everyone should learn self-defence techniques'

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is still at a nascent stage in India,” says Siddharth Singh, founder, Crosstrain Fight Club.

“Very frankly”, he continues, “it began officially in 1992 with the start of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the United States, which features top-ranked fighters of the sport. But in India, it’s even newer. When we started out towards the end of 2012, there weren’t any good MMA schools in north India.”

Having boxed at the national level and trained in Muay Thai (a form of kick-boxing) and Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ, a form of submission wrestling) for several years, Singh reportedly created the first MMA club in north India after leaving his role as an international brand manager at a UK firm.

“I started off with boxing in school at the age of 12. Thereafter, I went to UK where I trained in Muay Thai. Four years ago, I started with jiu jitsu, and never looked back,” recalls Singh, a first degree purple belt holder in BJJ.

On the combat sport of MMA, he says, “It is a combination of every other martial art known to man like taekwondo, karate, judo, Kungfu and sumo wrestling. But over the last 25 years, we have figured out that there are four main components — boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling (traditional Indian sport), and BJJ.” 

Recently, as the master trainer for Reebok, Singh along with another MMA expert Deepak Karai engaged hundreds of fitness enthusiasts in a power-packed MMA masterclass that covered pointers to become a successful MMA fighter. “We believe that one doesn’t need to be a fighter to train. Keeping this in mind, ‘Reebok Fight Night’ was a small session with the city’s youth to motivate them towards the combat sport,” says Singh, who is also one of the only CrossFit certified trainers in India to have international Olympic lifting certification.

Using competition-sized boxing ring, and a MMA cage especially prepared for a masterclass that focused on essential self-defence and striking skills from Thai kick-boxing, the ‘Fight Night’ witnessed nine intense fights, among 18 amateur fighters, trainers and athletes from the MMA community. “We don’t train for hours at a stretch. We instead do hour-long intense training, which is equivalent to those undertaken by authentic fighters,” mentions Singh.

“And for those who come for the fitness side of things, they are not required to fight. They can still learn the skills as there is no concern of injury,” he says. Considering how important self-defence has become in today’s world, Singh mentions, “Everyone should learn the techniques; you never know when they might come in handy”.