Can you tell us a brief history about yourself?
I was born into a martial arts family. My forefathers were Kalari practitioners from southern India and my father is a martial arts grandmaster who founded his style out of street fighting and unarmed combat techniques which he learnt while in the Indian Navy.
Martial Arts have always been second nature to me. For me it was my destiny to be a martial artist. At an early age my father put me into every martial arts competition possible. While still in school I competed in Boxing, Wrestling, Karate, Taekwondo, Judo, Kickboxing and was a national Champion many times.
My father began teaching martial arts immediately after he left the military and he established his first martial arts training center in Vishakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh. Later he shifted to Devlali Maharashtra in 1979 when he was employed by Barnes School to work in the sports department.
My father started teaching me the way of the martial arts when I was just 5 years old in the year 1980.In those days the style of martial art that we practiced called “Ishudo” was a reality based attack and defense techniques which could be actually used in a real attack situation. Even the sparring that we used to practice had little or no rules and we were always taught to use the element of surprise in the case of an attack situation.
In those days my father used to organize various martial arts challenge tournaments where fighters from every style were invited to participate in bare knuckle freestyle full contact combat. It was the actual ‘blood sport’ style tournament where you could get a ringside view of fighters spitting blood after every bout and you also get to see a couple of teeth whiz past your face. In those days those kinds of tournaments were popular since people did not know much about the martial arts and they wanted to know which style was actually worth the learn.
The local Judo and traditional Karate Organizations tried much to put a ban against my fathers tournaments but most of the government officers were already my fathers senior students and so luckily such complaints were not heeded to – they even went to the extent of publishing full page write ups against my fathers style and his tournaments but this also worked in his favor since he became very famous as the teacher of the ‘Real Full Contact Martial Arts’. Judo fighters faced Karate Men, Taekwondo players fought Boxers etc., these kinds of tournaments were a real spectacle to watch.
Thus I grew up with these surroundings and was always training with the tough students of my father. They were trained to defend themselves anytime and although in the ring they were the most dangerous men in the city, outside the ring they were real gentlemen. I started training hard and started by winning at district level tournaments and soon won state and national events in full contact Karate[different from the Japanese style of Kyokushinkai].To achieve a black belt in Ishudo was considered the greatest accomplishment.
Later on in the mid eighties my father first got affiliated with WAKO under Mr. Ennio Falsoni and later continued to promote kickboxing with the World Kickboxing Council lead by world president Mr. Tim Deans of California. While under WAKO we traveled to Russia where I won India a Gold Medal at the WAKO Mini Olympics of Kickboxing in June 1994 when I was just 19 years old.
Coming from a strong Kick Boxing background what made you Interested in Mixed Martial Arts?
We were always doing MMA, with a different name. The martial arts style that my father founded was always a no-nonsense reality based combat Martial Art. We always had the skeptic Wrestler, Boxer, Streetfighter student who wouldn’t believe that ‘ishudo’ was for real and that doubt was always cleared when a senior student in the dojo took them on in a no holds barred sparring session. Occasionally my father too took on the challenge.
We also began India’s first martial arts magazine and had Rorion Gracie on the cover of one of our early editions. My father also received an invitation from Art Davie for us to send a representative for the first UFC. Sadly we didn’t have a sponsor to send our best fighter over to the US at that time.
In those days the visa process for Indians to go to the US was also much more difficult than nowadays.
Although we lived in one remote part of the world not exposed to much of what happened with the martial arts scene, we kept in touch regularly with the UFC because of “Black Belt Magazine” and later with the internet. In time we got to work with a few MMA promoters in the UK and then after a brief visit to Manchester in the year 2000 we began training our best fighters in modern MMA at Tigers gym.
How long have you trained and who have you trained with?
Well I’ve been involved in the martial arts since age 5 and I have been blessed to train and have my first encounter with the Martial Arts under a true legend and that legend happens to be my father. He was the one to get me actually interested in the Martial Arts. But many other good masters have helped me along the way and all of them love and respect my father.
My father has never stopped me from training under real master’s infact he always taught me that the deeper you go into the Martial Arts the more junior a student you become. Apart from my father I trained under the following Masters:
• The Late Leslie Mainguy – my first boxing coach who was ex Indian navy and western India boxing champion. Being a western India boxing champion is like having a “golden gloves” title in the US.
• Mr. Nicolai – my first international kickboxing coach who happened to be the Olympic boxing coach of the Ukrainian national amateur boxing team in 1994.
• Master Sken – the gentleman master – my Muay Thai coach who introduced me to Muay Thai and continues to be my mentor.
• Master Cris – who introduced me to grappling and submission techniques and helped me arrange the first COTC World Title MMA bouts between India and the UK in 2005.
• Mr Gorakhnath Balkawde who while teaching me the Indian wrestling style of “Kusthi” showed me the importance of having a strong wrestling stance and takedowns for MMA. He has also given us most of the area of Balkawde International Sports complex to run and manage Tigers Gym which has become world famous today.
The Clash of the Champions events you promote is the only Mixed Martial Arts event held In India that I know of. How many events do you run through out the year?
COTC shows were first held just once a year but since 2004 we’ve been doing 3 shows yearly and apart the COTC we also promote the “Tigers Gym Open MMA” event which serves as a talent hunt for up and coming MMA fighters.
This year we also organized the 1st Asian open MMA championships for amateur fighters and it turned out great. We had a lot of non MMA fighters trying their hand at MMA and it was just great to see their enthusiasm and interest.
On an Average how many people would attended the events?
When we organize MMA shows in the villages, where tickets are not sold primarily because of poor people, we have up to 3000 people in attendance but at the regular shows in the cities we usually do shows in venues which can hold not more than 1000 people. We want to take things one step at a time.
How many fights would be on each fight card?
A minimum of 4 main event pro bouts accompanied by some supporting amateur under card bouts.
What is your favorite fight you saw at a Clash of the Championships event and why?
That would be Alan Fenandes vs Mohamed Mariwani at Fight Night held in April this year. Alan is an excellent grappler and Mariwani is a world class wrestler, it was a very technical bout full of hard hitting action.
The Fight Night shows are an additional event that we have added to the COTC circuit.
With the lack of events do members of the Tigers Gym compete in Kick Boxing and Kusthi Wrestling to keep them active?
Yes for sure, I’m always making sure that our fighters are always active on the fighting circuit even if it means to get them bouts for Muay Thai, K1 rules, Kickboxing, BJJ or Kusthi.
How do you advertise your events?
India has a very active Martial Arts community and we usually advertise in the leading martial arts news magazines as well as regular newspapers and local television.
A few months back several members of The Tigers Gym competed in Abu Dhabi. How did they do?
Vishal Balkawde won Gold and Hassan Babaei won Silver. Hassan missed out on the gold because of a rib injury. This was the first time that an Indian team competed in BJJ and won.
Do Indian television networks show MMA events on T.V such as PRIDE FC and UFC or is it rare to see the sport on T.V?
Yes MMA is quite popular on Indian television.
Kultar Gill aka “The Black Mamba” is currently fighting in the biggest MMA Company in Japan called K1 HEROS. Although he lives and trains in Canada but he represents the nation of India when he fights in HEROS.
How proud are you to see the very first Indian fighting in one of the biggest stage?
I’m very happy for Kultar, he’s a good friend and we are always calling each other up before and after he fights. I’m really happy for all his achievements.
When Kultar does fight is there any media coverage on his up and coming fights on Indian television sports channels?
Not yet!
Is he considered a role model for some of the athletes at The Tigers Gym?
All our fighters enjoy watching Kultar fighting.
Most of your fighters I gather who fight under MMA rules fight mainly in India. Have you approached companies in Asia such as SPIRIT MC in South Korea, SHOOTO in Japan and so on to have guys from your gym compete on there shows?
Alan Fenandes and Shashi Sathe are now regular fighters with Art of War Fighting Championships in China. This is Chinas biggest MMA Company and is going to be the next PRIDE FC in my opinion. I am also working with several other promoters in the region who will be featuring our Indian and Iranian fighters on their shows starting from November 2007.
Sarona Mahlingam Vengatachalan aka “Samson the Cobra” was scheduled to fight Caol Uno at a K-1 HEROS event back in 2005. But the fight did not happen. Why didn’t happen?
FEG informed me a week before we were to fly out to Japan that Uno pulled out of the event because of a training injury. They tried to match him up with Genki Sudo but that didn’t work out as well. We are still having talks with FEG to bring our best fighters on the MMA circuit in Japan soon.
Your Training facility in Nasik looks very impressive. How big is it?
Its massive brother, we have separate halls for running, grappling, weight training, standup training and meditation. We also have a traditional mud pit for Indian wrestling known as an “Akhada”.
We have a state of the art weight training facility as well as mats, bags and tons of training equipment and accessories for Kickboxing, Muay Thai and MMA. You can see video clips of our gym and the fighters training on the video section of our website www.tigersgym.com.
The gym is located near a hill as well as near a river so its great to do some hill training and you can also take a dip in the river once your training is done. We have a lot of stray dogs near the gym so they can help fighters run [laughs].
On an Average how many students does the gym train on a daily basis?
That fluctuates throughout the year. Many fighters and martial artists from all over the world visit Tigers Gym to train with us all year round.
We conduct separate training schedules for guests, amateur fighters and professionals. We have 3 coaches working full time at the gym. Plus we are always bringing over guest coaches from other countries.
What would a daily training schedule be if I was going there to train?
The gym is open 24 hours a day mon-sat.
We have instructors who take care of separate workouts for Wrestling, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, Submission Wrestling and Weight Training. We have also introduced Aerobic Workouts among several new workout routines.
You don’t just have Indians train at the gym. Which other nationals to you have training and competing full time?
We have fighters from Iran, Oman, and Sri Lanka also training at Tigers. Some of our best fighters apart from the Indians are Iranian fighters like Jafar Khezeli and Hassan Babaei.
Do you have a message to Promoters that may be reading this Interview?
Yes. I believe that our top fighters at Tigers Gym are some of the finest athletes in the region .I believe that just as Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill got his big break with HEROS and is today an MMA star; our fighters too deserve an opportunity to prove themselves in the international MMA arena.
MMA is known as the “anything can happen” sport with the biggest ‘upsets’ in sports history. Only in MMA can Cro Cop get a head kick KO by a BJJ fighter and only in MMA can a PRIDE fighter like Rampage who never won a Pride Belt win the UFC world and undisputed belt. If promoters would give our fighters the right “fair” opportunities I’m sure that they will do their talking in the ring.
I would also be glad to begin a dialogue with promoters and Investors who would be interested to partner with us to develop the MMA market in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
I like to thank you Daniel for taking the time to answer my questions for MMAUNIVERSE.com. Do you have any last words for the readers?
Thanks Rohit for this in-depth interview and special thanks to mmauniverse.com I send best wishes to all the website visitors from Tigers Gym and the MMA fighters from India.
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