Hunza's Maliha Ali beats Russian champion at MMA world championships

Pakistan’s Maliha Ali beat Russia’s Veronika Drozdova on Tuesday at the world championships of amateur mixed martial arts in Tbilisi, Georgia, winning a split decision over a two-time European champion, Dawn reported.

A win against the best-funded team

Russia came to the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) World Championships with more than 60 athletes, government backing and one of the best-funded programmes in the sport. Maliha, a 24-year-old from Hunza in Gilgit-Baltistan, beat one of them in their featherweight bout, at 65.8kg. Drozdova is 19.

Fighting from a southpaw stance, Maliha started carefully, then closed the distance and pinned the Russian against the cage, landing clean strikes to end the first round strongly. In the second round she took Drozdova down, moved to full mount and landed heavy blows from the top. She had used up much of her energy by then and tired in the third, which Drozdova won on the ground. The judges, however, gave the first two rounds to Maliha. When her name was announced she roared, then hugged her opponent and went down in prostration with the Pakistan flag over her shoulders.

“We spotted holes in their game”

“I was listening to the corner and the coach’s instructions during the fight,” Maliha told Dawn. “We worked on our opponent’s game plan, how she fights, and executed our strategy. And thankfully it worked.”

Omar Ahmed, president of the Pakistan MMA Federation, said the team held a six-week camp and brought in an international jiu-jitsu and grappling coach after spotting weaknesses in Maliha’s fights when she won silver at the IMMAF World Cup in Angola earlier this year. “The coach worked on the mistakes that she made during her previous fights, and we saw the improvement today,” he said.

Money, and what the win means

Omar was frank about resources. “Russia has one of the most well-funded MMA programs,” he said. “Compared to them, we are the most underfunded and probably the least-resourced federation competing in this event because of the sports policy in Pakistan. But still, we manage to eke out victories against such formidable opponents.” Dawn notes that Pakistan’s campaign at last year’s championships, also in Tbilisi, was reported to be self-funded through private sponsorship, with no government money. This is the federation’s own account of its funding, and the reports we drew on do not carry a government reply.

Maliha is also a wushu champion and a national kickboxing gold medallist.

Next fights

On Wednesday, Maliha meets Mexico’s Andrea Gabriela Guzman Salazar in the quarter-finals. Her twin sister Manesha, who won gold at the IMMAF World Cup in Luanda earlier this year, fights Poland’s Martyna Caruk on the same day. Both are chasing world titles.

Why it matters

The result matters beyond one bout: a fighter from Hunza beat an athlete from the country that sent the biggest team to the event, with a federation that says it has the smallest budget. The federation credits a six-week camp and a hired coach for the improvement, which suggests how much a little money can do. The tests now are today’s quarter-finals and whether both sisters can reach the medal rounds. Maliha tired in the third round, a weakness the camp will want to fix before her next fight.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn.