‘Silent revolution’: Pakistan hosts first Asian MMA Championship, marking ‘new era’ for combat sport

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Updated 22 August 2024
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‘Silent revolution’: Pakistan hosts first Asian MMA Championship, marking ‘new era’ for combat sport

  • Late entrant into MMA, the event in Pakistan has brought 180 athletes from 23 countries
  • Pakistan has done well in the sport globally though MMA remains entirely self-funded

LAHORE: Over 180 athletes from 23 countries participated this week as Pakistan hosted the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) Asian Championship for the first time, with the Pakistan MMA Federation calling it the “biggest sporting event in the country’s history.”

MMA is a full-contact combat sport that combines techniques from various martial arts disciplines, including boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and karate. Competitors use both striking and grappling techniques in a regulated environment, often within a cage or ring, to determine the most skilled fighter.

Pakistan is a late entrant to the sport though it has no shortage of fans, many of whom regularly train at MMA-dedicated gyms equipped with experienced coaches and specialized facilities. Gyms and training centers have been popping up all over the country in recent years as the youth of Pakistan embrace the world’s fastest growing sport.

The MMA Asia championship in Lahore also opened to a packed house on Sunday with a fight between Pakistani and Indian fighters, allowing the fierce cross-border rivalry to not only set the tone for the competition but also pique the interest of fans in other parts of the world.

The event, which was aired by American broadcasters and streamed on multiple platforms, has attracted participants from regions such as the Middle East and Central Asia and will run from Aug. 18-22.

“Since [Asian championship] is being broadcast in 180 countries, translated in 25 languages and hitting 10 million households, so for Pakistan, it’s the biggest sporting event in its history,” Omer Ahmed, the president of the Pakistan MMA Federation, told Arab News. 

Pakistani fighters displayed impressive performances against their Indian counterparts with Zia Mashwani, a local fighter, winning the first-round submission over Bharat Khandare during the inaugural match on Sunday.

Pakistan’s 24-year-old Bano Butt also beat her Indian counterpart in the 47-kilogram atomweight category in the semifinal on Wednesday.

“I started MMA in 2019, and I’m undefeated in Pakistan, my record is 12-1 [with only one international defeat],” said Butt, who was an amateur boxer before training for MMA at a gym that provides combat training. “I thank my coaches and Mr. Omer Ahmed at the MMA Federation for supporting me.”

Ahmed is the driving force behind the tournament in Pakistan and forged global partnerships with entities like the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation to bring the first MMA Asian Championship to the South Asian nation. 

“This is the only event in Pakistan’s history where 16 teams and 300 foreign nationals have shown up,” he said, giving a count of fighters, coaches and support staff and pointing out that even in cricket, the most popular game in the country, only about eight teams joined major tournaments.

“We’ve been winning medals in both the [MMA] Asian Championships and World Championships for the last three years [but] this has been somewhat of a silent revolution,” Ahmed added. “Because even though our Pakistani MMA federation is [globally] recognized, it is a self-funded federation. The best thing is that we’ve learned how to monetize our content.”

“BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY”

Visiting athletes and teams from Pakistan, Middle East, India and other nations praised the arrangements and hospitality at the event. 

“This is the first time I’ve come to Pakistan,” Khushboo Nishad, an Indian MMA fighter, told Arab News. “There was a lot of [negative] hype about Pakistan, but I really enjoyed my time here.

“Coming here to Pakistan, I felt like I was back in my hometime, in India. It’s a beautiful country, Pakistan, it’s just like India.”

Another fighter visiting Pakistan for the first time was Nour Al Fliti from Lebanon.

“I have been a Lebanese flyweight MMA champion twice,” she told Arab News. “I have just finished my fight, and I won by decision after facing team Pakistan.”

Al Fliti said she was aiming for gold like her Lebanese compatriot, Mohammad Fakhreddine who won in the male 55-kg featherweight category.

From Bahrain, Ali Mahroon put in walkover performances on his way to the 77-kg welterweight final.

“I won today with two submissions,” he told Arab News. “Tomorrow [Thursday], let’s go [for] gold.”

Mahroon said he had a “wonderful” time in Lahore, praising Pakistani hospitality and the tournament arrangements.

Mohammad Ghorbani, Iran’s Head Coach, called Pakistan a “beautiful” country.

“The people are nice. It’s a great experience and I would like to be back in this country very soon.”

Ahmed from the MMA federation thanked Rana Mashood of the Prime Minister’s Youth Program and the foreign office for facilitating the event.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave us a desk through which we were able to get these 300 visas … [they] arranged all of these visas within a day or two,” Ahmed said. “The government has supported us in this event, through logistics, through security, through getting visas, but we have not taken any financial support from them.”

Relying mainly on brands and sponsors, the federation had been successful in supporting Pakistani athletes at events around the world, Ahmed said. 

“In Abu Dhabi, Ismail Khan won a bronze medal. Bano Butt picked up a medal in Serbia, which was a big success being the first female [MMA] athlete from Pakistan. We won four medals, in two female and two male categories [3 silvers and a bronze] in Bahrain last December.”

“We will continue to win medals in [international] competitions and want people to watch this sport and make it even bigger than it already is,” the MMA Federation president said, saying hosting the Asian championship would go a long way in putting MMA on the sporting map in Pakistan.

“It’s a big deal, and hopefully if events like these continue to happen, you’ll also see the economy for this sport develop in Pakistan.”


Pakistan Railways awaits security clearance to repair track damaged in deadly Balochistan attack

Updated 15 March 2025
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Pakistan Railways awaits security clearance to repair track damaged in deadly Balochistan attack

  • BLA separatists targeted a passenger train earlier this week, taking more than 200 hostages
  • The militants killed 31 people in the attack, derailing the train and damaging 398 feet of track 

QUETTA: A delegation of Pakistan Railways officials visited the site of a militant attack on a passenger train in the southwestern mountainous Bolan region on Saturday, saying repair work on the damaged track would begin after security clearance to restore train service from Balochistan.
Dozens of separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants attacked the Quetta-Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express with bomb, gun and rocket attacks on Tuesday afternoon, killing 31 people and taking more than 200 passengers captive.
The hostage crisis lasted for 36 hours before security forces executed a rescue operation, killing 33 militants and securing the release of the passengers.
Speaking to the media, Rasheed Imtiaz Siddiqui, deputy chief engineer of Pakistan Railways, said four carriages of the Jaffar Express had derailed in the attack and 398 feet of track was damaged.

Pakistan's Frontier Corps inspect the siege site after armed militants ambushed a train in the remote mountainous area, at Pehro Kunri in Balochistan province on March 15, 2025. (AFP)

“Our teams are ready at Sibi, Mushkaf, Paneer and Aab-e-Gum railway stations,” he told reporters at the Bolan site where the train was hijacked.
“This is a highly sensitive area, and our teams will have to work from dawn to dusk since there can be security issues in the dark requiring formal clearance [from Pakistani forces],” he added.

A view shows the railway station, after the train service is halted following the attack on a train by separatist militants in Bolan, in Quetta, Balochistan, on March 14, 2025. (REUTERS)

Siddiqui said it would take at least eight to nine hours to clear the derailed carriages and repair the track.
Armed separatist groups often target trains and passenger coaches in southwestern Balochistan province, which has witnessed a low-level insurgency for decades against the Pakistani state.

Pakistan army soldiers stand at a tunnel where the Jaffar Express train was attacked by separatist militants, at Pehro Kunri in Balochistan province on March 15, 2025. (REUTERS)

The separatists accuse the government of stripping the province’s natural resources and leaving its people mired in poverty. However, government officials deny the allegation, saying they are working to uplift the province through development projects, including multibillion-dollar schemes funded by Beijing.
Last August, the BLA destroyed a historic bridge built by the British Army in the 18th century in the hilly area of Kolpur, suspending train service for nearly a month.


Pakistan's Frontier Corps stand guard at the siege site after armed militants ambushed a train in the remote mountainous area, at Pehro Kunri in Balochistan province on March 15, 2025. (AFP)

Brig. Umar Altaf, Commandant Sibi Scouts, told the media that the area was clear.
“The terrorists were confident they could prolong the standoff and propagate that the area was under their control,” he said, pointing out that they could not withstand the rescue operation.
“We have recovered eight magnetic improvised explosive devices from the area,” he continued. “They [the militants] were ready to blast the train, but we neutralized them.”


Blast in Pakistan’s northwest kills founder of banned militant outfit

Updated 15 March 2025
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Blast in Pakistan’s northwest kills founder of banned militant outfit

  • Mufti Munir Shakir of Lashkar-e-Islam was targeted in Peshawar while he was entering a mosque
  • He was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital in critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries

PESHAWAR: A blast on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Saturday killed local cleric Mufti Munir Shakir, founder of the banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam, a hospital official confirmed after Shakir was rushed there in an injured state following the explosion.
Established in 2004, Lashkar-e-Islam initially focused on enforcing a strict interpretation of Islam before establishing a parallel governance system in parts of the Khyber district between 2008 and 2014.
Its members frequently clashed with Pakistani security forces, contributing to the broader insurgency in the tribal region, which was later merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Mufti Munir Shakir ... was brought into the [Lady Reading] hospital in a critical condition with three other wounded people in the blast,” Muhammad Asim, the spokesperson of the medical facility, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Mufti Munir Shakir embraced martyrdom at the hospital. Right now, we are in the process of handing over his dead body to his relatives.”
Speaking to Arab News, Noor Muhammad, the Station House Officer of the area where the attack occurred, said the blast took place outside a mosque and specifically targeted Shakir.
“The moment Mufti Munir Shakir was entering the mosque at around 5 PM the blast took place, leaving four persons wounded,” he said. “It was a planted bomb.”
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has experienced a surge in militant violence, with frequent attacks targeting security forces and civilians.
The region has mostly been targeted by the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose leadership is reportedly based in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan has frequently accused the interim Afghan Taliban administration of sheltering these militants and facilitating their cross-border attacks in its border region, an allegation denied by Kabul.
Last month, a prominent religious cleric, Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq, lost his life in a massive suicide bombing at the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak that killed at least six other individuals.
The seminary has earned a reputation for producing several Afghan Taliban leaders, prompting the administration in Kabul to condemn the attack and blame it on the rival Daesh group in the region.
Prior to the explosion that killed Mufti Shakir on Saturday, police officials confirmed that militants launched four coordinated overnight attacks in the province, targeting police stations in two districts, leaving one attacker dead and a police officer injured.
The first three attacks took place in Bannu, a restive district located on the periphery of North Waziristan bordering Afghanistan.
The fourth attack occurred in the adjacent Lakki Marwat district when a group of well-armed militants launched an assault on the Abbasia police station, sparking a fierce gunbattle.
The confrontation resulted in the death of one militant, while others managed to flee the scene.
“During the chase, a police vehicle hit a roadside improvised explosive device, injuring one police official who was transported to a nearby medical facility for treatment,” Shahid Marwat, the spokesperson of the district’s police, told Arab News.
In a statement released earlier in the day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Police Chief Zulfiqar Hameed also paid tribute to the courage of the police personnel for thwarting successive militant attacks in the two districts.


Pakistan Navy launches second Hangor-class submarine in China to boost maritime defense

Updated 15 March 2025
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Pakistan Navy launches second Hangor-class submarine in China to boost maritime defense

  • Equipped with advanced weapons and sensors, the submarine will strengthen Pakistan’s deterrence capabilities
  • The deal with the Chinese company will get Pakistan six more submarines with technology transfer agreement

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Navy launched its second Hangor-class submarine, PNS/M Shushuk, at a ceremony in Wuhan, China, as part of a strategic initiative to bolster its maritime defense capabilities, according to an official statement on Saturday.
The country’s defense ministry signed an agreement with China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan in 2015 to acquire eight of these submarines. Under the deal, four submarines are being built in China, while the remaining four will be constructed at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works under a transfer of technology program.
Equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors, these submarines are expected to enhance Pakistan’s naval capabilities by enabling precision strikes at standoff ranges.
Pakistan’s Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Ovais Ahmed Bilgrami, attended the ceremony as the chief guest.
“While addressing the ceremony, the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff highlighted the importance of maritime security in the prevailing geo-strategic environment of the region, as well as Pakistan Navy’s commitment to safeguarding national interests and ensuring a safe and conducive maritime environment for all,” the official statement circulated by the Directorate General of Public Relations of Pakistan Navy said.
“He emphasized that Hangor-class submarines, equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors, will play a pivotal role in maintaining the balance of power and maritime order in the region,” it added.
Pakistan’s deal with the Chinese company is expected to enhance its naval defense in the Indian Ocean region by equipping its fleet with stealth-capable submarines designed for low acoustic signatures, making them harder to detect.
These advanced vessels also aim to strengthen the country’s deterrence capabilities while reinforcing Pakistan-China military ties through strategic defense collaboration.
Beyond the Hangor-class project, Pakistan is enhancing its naval capabilities through collaborations with other nations.
In 2018, the country signed a contract with Turkiye for the construction of four MILGEM-class corvettes.
Additionally, a Turkish company was also engaged to upgrade Pakistan’s Agosta 90B-class submarines.


Security forces kill nine militants, lose two soldiers in Pakistan’s northwest

Updated 15 March 2025
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Security forces kill nine militants, lose two soldiers in Pakistan’s northwest

  • Pakistani forces carried out two separate intelligence-based operation in Mohmand and Dera Ismail Khan
  • An official statement says the armed forces recovered weapons, ammunition from the deceased militants

KARACHI: Pakistani security forces killed nine militants in two intelligence-based operations in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement on Saturday, adding two soldiers also lost their lives in one of the encounters.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has seen a surge in violence by banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in recent months, with deadly suicide bombings, attacks on security checkpoints and targeted of civilians and security personnel.
Pakistani security forces have conducted several intelligence-based operations in the region, with the latest ones carried out in Mohmand District and Dera Ismail Khan between March 14 and 15.
Pakistan refers to TTP militants as “khwarij,” a historical term describing an extremist sect in early Islam known for rebelling against authority and declaring other Muslims apostates.
“On reported presence of Khwarij, an intelligence based operation was conducted by the Security Forces in Mohmand District,” the ISPR said. “During the conduct of operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarijs’ location, resultantly, seven khwarij were sent to hell.”
“However, during intense fire exchange, two brave sons of soil, Havildar Muhammad Zahid (age: 37 years, resident of District Malakand) and Sepoy Aftab Ali Shah (age: 26 years, resident of District Chitral) having fought gallantly, rendered the ultimate sacrifice and embraced shahadat [martyrdom],” it added.
The second operation was carried out in Maddi, Dera Ismail Khan District, where security forces engaged militants in a gunfight.
“A fire exchange took place between own troops and khwarij,” the statement continued. “Resultantly, two khwarij were effectively neutralized.”
The ISPR said security forces also recovered weapons and ammunition from the militants, who, according to the military, were actively involved in multiple violent activities.
The statement informed that “sanitization operations” were ongoing in both districts to eliminate any remaining militants.


Pakistan set to face New Zealand in T20I series opener in Christchurch on Sunday

Updated 15 March 2025
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Pakistan set to face New Zealand in T20I series opener in Christchurch on Sunday

  • Skipper Salman Ali Agha says the team will try to produce better results in New Zealand
  • A three-match ODI series, set to follow the T20I action, will run from March 29 to April 5

KARACHI: Pakistan are all set to take on New Zealand in a five-match T20I series starting Sunday, the country's cricket board said in a statement, with the first game to be played at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
The Pakistan squad arrived in New Zealand on Thursday and held their first training session on Friday afternoon. Before their arrival, the T20I squad underwent a pre-series camp from March 7 to 10 in Lahore.
Pakistan’s squad includes three uncapped players — Abdul Samad, Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Ali — who earned call-ups to the national side following their impressive performances in recent domestic events.
Skipper Salman Ali Agha, who led the team to a 2-1 T20I series win in Zimbabwe in his first series as captain, expressed satisfaction with the players' performance ahead of the series.
“The team's preparations are going well, and we will try to produce better results in New Zealand," the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) quoted him as saying in a statement. "We have some young players in the side, and it is an opportunity for them to showcase their talent at the international level after performing well in domestic cricket.”
Pakistan have an upper hand over New Zealand in the 44 T20I contests between the two sides, with 23 wins, while the Black Caps have secured victory in 19 fixtures.
The last T20I series featuring the two sides, played in Pakistan in 2024, ended in a 2-2 draw, with one match abandoned due to rain.
More recently, though, Pakistan's cricket squad has come under significant criticism for their performance following their early exit from the 2025 Champions Trophy after losses to New Zealand and India.
During their tour to New Zealand, Pakistan will play their second match at University Oval in Dunedin on March 18, while the third match of the series will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on March 21.
The fourth and fifth T20Is will be played at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui and Sky Stadium in Wellington on March 23 and 26, respectively.
A three-match ODI series will follow the T20I action and will be played from March 29 to April 5.