Fighting tooth and nail for Nepal

Rabindra Dhant stood at the centre of the octagonal ring at Shaheed Vijay Singh Sports Complex in Noida near New Delhi earlier this month. White trunks, mouth open, breathing heavy, taking it all in. A Nepal flag was draped proudly over his shoulders as the national anthem played.

The referee raised Dhant’s hand in victory. A gold championship belt joined the flag on his shoulders, as confetti burst into the air.

“After 54 seconds of round 3, for your winner, by knockout, and the new Matrix Fight Night bantamweight champion, Rabindra Dhant,” belted the announcer.

Dhant had just defeated Chungren ‘The Indian Rhino’ Koren, 27, from Manipur in the main event of Indian fight promotion Matrix Fight Night (MFN) on 2 August in the bantamweight division (125-135 lbs).

Koren had been confident he could easily overpower the fighter from Nepal, and said as much: “He’s a kid, I’m going to break him mentally. It’s not going to be a problem.”

Dhant was more subdued. Before the main event, he told the interviewer:  “I am not feeling a lot of pressure, I feel pretty normal since I have fought in international promotions and quite a bit in India.”

In round one the two touched gloves and started tentatively, before locking in a clinch against the cage. The fight went to the ground, and Dhant moved seamlessly to first mount and then get behind Koren, raining in punches and causing early damage. 

Koren stood up and ate a barrage of kicks to the body. Koren had his moments punching back in the first round, but could not sustain a long attack.

Already in the second round, it was clear that Dhant had a fuller gas tank. He wriggled out of bad positions and turned them quickly into pins and punches. Koren’s background in wrestling showed, with some pretty smooth transitions, and ended the round on top, having locked in a ‘Darce’ choke, in which the arm triangles around their opponent’s neck and shoulder.

But Koren was clearly exhausted by the third round, and even the commentator noticed. Dhant still looked fresh and was able to land strike after strike on his sluggish opponent, who was soon knocked out. The Nepalis in the audience, many wearing topi, erupted in delight. 

Dhant’s improbable journey to become a professional fighter started from a tiny village in Bajhang. Like most young men from this district in far-western Nepal, he went to India after school and worked first as a labourer in Pithoragarh and then in an office in New Delhi.

The foray into martial arts started with training in karate in the mornings. Dhant’s coaches noted his abilities, and pushed him to explore mixed martial arts (MMA). Dhant took to the sport immediately, winning first a local fight night, then a national-level amateur competition. All while facing pressure from home to give up the sport -- there simply was no money in it.

He continued fighting professionally in New Delhi and started coaching at the local gym. During and after Covid, he would bounce between Nepal and India, finding it harder and harder to find opportunities to fight, and even considered migrating to the Gulf.

It was then that he met Jiu Jitsu coach Diwiz Piya, who was struck by Dhant’s talent, fearlessness, and humility. Only after their first training session did Dhant reveal his fighting background.

Dhant started training under Piya, who helped fix fights across India. Dhant won six fights in a row, earning a chance to fight in the ONE Fighting Championship. He won his first ONE FC fight in September 2023 against the Russian Torepchi Dongak, but then lost to Ismail Khan of Pakistan.

Dhant regrouped and had two more wins. His last fight had been at the BRAVE CF 93 in Zhengzhou where he had taken on Chinese fighter Eqiyuebu, wrestling him to the ground, getting behind him, and knocking him out with punches — an effective strategy referred to as ground and pound.

Dhant had then been training out of Soma Fight Club in Bali, Indonesia, when the opportunity for the fight at MFN came up.

“This fight came about, I wouldn’t say out of nowhere. We had always anticipated a fight in MFN,” says Piya, who also manages Dhant in addition to coaching him.

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No-holds barred

The sport of MMA is about professional fighting. It is about defeating the other person in the ring, through submission holds or a knockout. Or, in the case that neither of those yield definitive results, a panel of judges decides which fighter was better overall.

As the name suggests, MMA involves a melding of martial arts, including boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, judo, wrestling, submission grappling, karate, and taekwondo. This makes for a much more complex and complete fighting sport than, say, boxing, which only allows punches.

This no-holds-barred fighting originated in ancient Greece as Pankration blended wrestling and boxing, and allowed strikes, pins, and submissions. Limits were drawn at biting and eye gouging. Fights often lasted for hours, and it was one of the most popular events at the ancient Olympics.

In its modern form MMA was born in the early 1990s in Colorado, with an organisation called Ultimate Fighting Championship. The early instances of the UFC saw athletes from different styles fight each other. A kickboxer went up against a practitioner of Kenpo Karate, and a boxer fought an athlete trained in Brazilian jiu jitsu, a submission grappling martial art.

As the sport matured and athletes got better and more professional, MMA became more structured, and disciplines started blurring into each other. 

It is also one of the only sports where women fight on the same cards as men, and are respected and appreciated for their skill as much as the other gender.

The sport is still in its early stages in Nepal, but maturing quickly. Driving its development is Diwiz Piya, who had been obsessed with fighting and fought in amateur bouts while studying in Thailand.

Piya founded Lock n Roll MMA and has been teaching out of The Pump at Jhamsikhel, and Tapout Fitness at Maharajganj. His team of experienced fighters provides world-class instruction on Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, and MMA six days a week. Local regulars as well as tourists and expats drop in for their sessions.

Lock n Roll has also been holding popular UFC-style fighting events at venues including Club LoD in Thamel, Gyanmandala in Jhamsikhel, and the Dasrath Stadium with Nepali, Indian, and French fighters. 

Other gyms that teach MMA in Kathmandu include Rage Fitness, Fight Club Nepal, and Gymkhana. Outside Kathmandu, there is the Pokhara Fight Club, as well as a few gyms that teach Muay Thai. Another option is the Himalayan Blood Kickboxing Gym in Damak.

Following the win in Noida, Prime Minister K P Oli and Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah have met Dhant. Kathmandu Metropolitan City has awarded him Rs200,000, and Oli announced a Rs500,000 prize. 

Given Dhant’s journey and an increased audience for the sport in Nepal, one can expect Nepal Warriors Championship (NWC) events to be packed out at bigger venues. But more importantly, this will inspire many more fighters, also from rural parts of the country. 

Besides Dhant, other rising young Nepali fighters include UK-based Yuki ‘The Gorkha’ Angdembe, and Japan-based kickboxer Abiral ‘Himalayan Cheetah’ Ghimire.

For Dhant now, the sky is the limit. He says: “I want to be a fighter from Nepal doing it at the highest level.”