India's Ritu Phogat (left) fights Kim Nam-hee of South Korea at the One Championship on Saturday in Beijing. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Ritu Phogat Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Indian mixed martial artist Ritu Phogat has proved that her decision to trade wrestling mats for the fighting cage was a good move, after she won her debut MMA bout at the One Championship with a first-round TKO in Beijing.

It took less than 30 seconds for the former Commonwealth wrestling champion to shoot for her first takedown at One, following her relentless battering of her opponent Kim Nam-hee of South Korea on the ground that forced the referee to intervene on Saturday. 

"It didn't feel any different than all the wrestling bouts I had competed in. I was just thinking about doing what I had been taught. And my wrestling set up my match perfectly," Phogat told reporters after the fight.

Phogat is the third daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat, whose story of transforming her daughters into wrestling athletes became well-known in China after it was depicted in the Bollywood blockbuster Dangal, which was a massive hit at the Chinese box office in 2017.

"The movie was just a brief introduction to my family, but I am very grateful for the love it brings," said the 25-year-old. "Through MMA and tonight's performance I want to build my own identity as a competitive MMA fighter."

The Phogat sisters have won multiple medals in international wrestling competitions, including six gold medals at Commonwealth Games.

Speaking of whether her father supported her decision of switching focus on MMA, Ritu Phogat said "he always supports me and my choices. He told me that he is happy that I was making a choice on my own."

Ritu Phogat abandoned her wrestling hopes for the Olympics earlier this year to focus on MMA, which she said she feels no regrets about as she bids to be the first Indian MMA world champion.

"Wrestling is already well known in India and we have champions," Ritu Phogat, now fighting in the One Championship's atomweight division, told reporters. "But in MMA there was no Indian champion and I am thinking about being the first one."

Ritu Phogat joined the renowned Singapore-based MMA club Evolve in February, aiming to win an MMA world title in two years. 

"As a wrestler making it to the MMA, my grappling skills are a benefit. [A] takedown is very easy for me. I just do the same thing: I take down and strike," said Ritu Phogat, before adding she will strengthen her striking and submission skills next to keep her overall skills sharp. 

It was never an easy task to abandon wrestling to take on MMA, as she said her family had encouraged her a lot.

"At the beginning there was a little bit of fear [when I did MMA], but now there isn't," she told the Global Times. "My father told me that winning or losing doesn't matter. What matters is that I have to give 100 percent in every fight."

The Phogat sisters' rise to fame also helped clear the prejudice over women in India.

"In my own experience, there was a lot of prejudice on women in India, I was almost not allowed to participate in the sport," Ritu Phogat told the Global Times. "But now there are multiple folks who actually came to my father questioning if he can train their daughters."