“As a child, I used to watch a lot of martial arts movies. Those days, actor Mithun Chakravarty’s movies were popular in that genre. I got inspired by those films and have decided to do martial arts. Like most parents, mine too was keen that I study first but I had to discontinue my schooling after a couple of years as I started to focus on martial arts full time.

Initially, I began my journey with Indian mud wrestling. Later, I had decided to level up my skill and that’s when I joined Karate. I trained in Karate for almost eight years with 22 gold medals. Along with that, I also got the opportunity to master other forms of martial arts like Judo, Muay Thai, Kickboxing. I got trained in these sports and even represented the state in several national level tournaments.

A few years later, I began to learn Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and there’s been no looking back from then. I have participated in many national level tournaments but due to a few circumstances, I had to stop my training as a player. However, I have decided to take up martial arts coaching in 2010 and trained many youngsters. Some of my students who got trained in Muay Thai also got trained under Mixed Martial Arts in 2012 ever since it was introduced in India.

I have also established the Telangana Association of Mixed Martial Arts (TAMMA) in the year 2014 after the state bifurcation and initiated free coaching services for the students of underprivileged backgrounds to get comprehensive training in MMA.

Today, I’m proud to coach India in MMA, who began with the motive of popularising this form of sports. From 2012 till today, after I started my MMA Training club, my students have won more than 100 national level medals and several International level medals.”

• Mr. Shaik Khalid, MMA Coach