Akhila Ranganna

MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts, is a full-contact sport&nbsp;that combines different&nbsp;fighting styles, including&nbsp;karate, boxing, kickboxing,&nbsp;wrestling, Vale Tudo, Muay&nbsp;Thai and Brazilian Ju jitsu. It is&nbsp;considered one of the fastest&nbsp;growing sports in the world,&nbsp;but in India, MMA is still very&nbsp;much in its infancy. However,&nbsp;there is a young Indian who&nbsp;is slowly but surely making&nbsp;his presence felt in the MMA&nbsp;international arena. Meet&nbsp;Nelson Paes, who recently&nbsp;scripted India’s first win at an&nbsp;international MMA event.&nbsp;Earlier this year, in&nbsp;January, Paes beat local&nbsp;favourite Khadoum Al Kaabi&nbsp;of the United Arab Emirates&nbsp;to win the Desert Force&nbsp;Championship in Dubai, in&nbsp;the featherweight category.&nbsp;“This was new territory for&nbsp;me, as I am used to fighting in&nbsp;India with my fans supporting&nbsp;me,” Paes said of his victory,&nbsp;“but I took his cheers as my&nbsp;own and ensured that it did&nbsp;not affect me. I was so proud&nbsp;to carry the Indian flag and&nbsp;represent my country. I knew&nbsp;from the moment of my&nbsp;selection that nothing would&nbsp;stop me from winning this for&nbsp;my country, state, my family&nbsp;and the Indian residents of&nbsp;Dubai.”&nbsp;Hailing from Goa, Paes’&nbsp;interest in sports stemmed&nbsp;from his younger days,&nbsp;when he dabbled in football,&nbsp;hockey and athletics. After&nbsp;he completed his studies,&nbsp;Paes moved to Pune and&nbsp;began working, but he always&nbsp;yearned to do something&nbsp;different. “I was about 23&nbsp;years old, I think, when I&nbsp;first started training; this&nbsp;was when I was in Pune&nbsp;working for a BPO,” he&nbsp;told the website www.&nbsp;sportskeeda.com. “But I&nbsp;wasn’t happy there — all the&nbsp;corporate rigmarole. A friend&nbsp;of mine was training and&nbsp;he introduced me to Muay&nbsp;Thai. Since then it has been&nbsp;an addiction, to the sport.&nbsp;That’s when it all started&nbsp;and I decided – money or&nbsp;no money, I want to fight.”&nbsp;Having realised his true&nbsp;calling, Nelson went on to win&nbsp;several tournaments in India,&nbsp;organised by the martial&nbsp;arts entertainment company&nbsp;Combat Cage Fights (CCF).&nbsp;“Whatever I have achieved&nbsp;today has been because CCF&nbsp;gave me the opportunity,&nbsp;“Paes told the newspaper O&nbsp;Heraldo.&nbsp;<div id="gallery-15"><figure>&nbsp;			<div>&nbsp;				<a href="https://www.mansworldindia.com/sports/nelson-paes-mma-martial-arts-winner-india/attachment/nelson-1/"><img src="https://d12d6l12s3d372.cloudfront.net/nelson_1_160x240_cfe7204cb8.jpg"></a>&nbsp;			</div>&nbsp;				<figcaption id="gallery-15-21710">&nbsp;				Nelson Paes &nbsp;				</figcaption></figure><figure>&nbsp;			<div>&nbsp;				<a href="https://www.mansworldindia.com/sports/nelson-paes-mma-martial-arts-winner-india/attachment/nelson-12/"><img src="https://d12d6l12s3d372.cloudfront.net/nelson_12_160x240_141ce8f497.jpg"></a>&nbsp;			</div>&nbsp;				<figcaption id="gallery-15-21711">&nbsp;				Nelson Paes &nbsp;				</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;		</div>&nbsp;In his first international&nbsp;victory, against the backdrop&nbsp;of one of the world’s richest&nbsp;cities, watched by a full&nbsp;house and set to the beats&nbsp;of pulsating music, Paes&nbsp;combined skill and agility&nbsp;and wrested victory in three&nbsp;full rounds, via a unanimous&nbsp;decision by the judges. Each&nbsp;round lasted five minutes and&nbsp;despite Paes’ assault, Al Kaabi&nbsp;showed great resilience. He&nbsp;fought back valiantly, but&nbsp;Paes matched him punch&nbsp;for punch, ensuring that the&nbsp;judges’ decisions were clearly&nbsp;in his favour. His current&nbsp;MMA record now stands at&nbsp;3-2-0 (win-loss-draw), with&nbsp;a current streak of three&nbsp;victories.&nbsp;Yet to get over the&nbsp;excitement of his win, Paes is&nbsp;looking forward to recovering&nbsp;for a month or two, and then&nbsp;charting out his future course&nbsp;of action.“Now I can see all&nbsp;the opportunities come my&nbsp;way and be ready for the next&nbsp;big moment in my life. My&nbsp;MMA career has kicked off in&nbsp;earnest now, and I could not&nbsp;be happier. Right now, I would&nbsp;like to enjoy this moment,”&nbsp;he said.&nbsp;According to Nelson,&nbsp;the challenging part about&nbsp;MMA is to keep winning.&nbsp;However, he is quick to&nbsp;caution that winning is not&nbsp;easy and has a word of&nbsp;advice for all the youngsters&nbsp;keen to take up the sport.&nbsp;“MMA may look colourful&nbsp;and fancy, but one needs&nbsp;to be dedicated, focussed,&nbsp;determined and consistent,”&nbsp;he told O Heraldo. “Nothing&nbsp;can stop you if you have&nbsp;these qualities, whatever the&nbsp;challenges.”

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The Mixed Martial Arts fighter from Goa recently became the first Indian to win an international MMA event.