Puja Tomar, fighting out of Budhana, India, just made history as the first ever Indian fighter to secure a win inside the UFC octagon. Tomar secured a split-decision victory against the Brazilian Rayanne dos Santos in the UFC’s strawweight division (52kg).
Puja Tomar made history last night as the first fighter from India to earn a victory in the UFC! ???#UFCLouisville pic.twitter.com/kPg4tLHXYn
— UFC (@ufc) June 9, 2024
Bearing the nickname ‘The Cyclone’, the 30 year old Indian native signed with the UFC last October, and though many Indians have competed in the octagon, Tomar is the first to secure a victory in the UFC.
Being a five time national wushu champion with a background in Tae Kwondo and karate, Tomar is clearly a striker, but reflected that she needs to work on her takedown defense in order to compete with the best in the world on the UFC stage. “I felt pressured in the second round, and need to improve a lot on my takedowns,” the fighter admitted. Still, claiming victory by any means necessary is no small feat against the most dangerous humans on the planet.
Several years ago, Dana White infamously said, “women will never fight in the UFC,” only to now have some of the organisation’s most decorated and talked about athletes being females. The UFC’s female strawweight division features some of the most ferocious fighters in any organisation, male or female, and Tomar undoubtedly has her work cut out for her should her ascent continue.
Current female strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, is the UFC’s first champion from Asia, and one can only imagine Tomar will now be gunning for her title. But as Weili’s opponents have discovered in the past, taking on the Chinese champion is a viciously unrewarding task.
