Ritu Phogat Wins Her MMA Debut

Ritu Phogat won her first MMA fight via first round TKO against Nam Hee-Kim.

Ritu Phogat won by first round TKO.

(Photo: ONE Championship)

Indian wrestler Ritu Phogat made a successful mixed martial arts and ONE Championship debut, putting together a dominant performance on the way to a technical knockout victory over South Korea's Nam Hee Kim in Beijing.

Phogat immediately scored on a takedown in the opening seconds of the bout. She executed another successful takedown moments later, this time keeping Kim on the mat and proceeding to cause damage with ground-and-pound.

After securing the mounted crucifix position, Phogat pounded Kim out until the referee intervened.

After her dominant debut victory, Ritu, who hails from the hallowed Phogat family known for their excellence in wrestling, thanked them, "I want to thank my sisters and my family, they believed in me and motivated me. I want thank everyone for their support, I promise I'll always give my one hundred percent."

Speaking about the bout, Ritu said it was always her plan to go for the takedown at the very beginning.

"I believed that if I got her down early, I could finish her via ground and pound. The plan worked."

Asked what she wanted to do next, she said, "I have only one goal and that's to win the ONE Atomweight World Championship for my country. That's why I chose A R Rahman's 'Vande Mataram' as my walkout song, listening to it fills me with enthusiasm and makes me want to do something for India. For me it's all about becoming the first Indian world champion in MMA."