- HOMEGROWN WORLD
- #HGCREATORS
- #HGEXPLORE
- #HGVOICES
- #HGSHOP
- CAREERS
- ABOUT US
- CONTACT US
This article explores FightClub Bengaluru, a community initiative introducing beginners to boxing and combat sports through structured weekly sessions. Founded by Arham Azmath, FightClub positions itself as an alternative to the increasingly social, trend-driven fitness culture, focusing instead on discipline, technique, and the athlete’s mindset. These sessions aim not to create professional fighters but to help participants understand the skill and effort required in combat sports.
If I have to be entirely honest, I don't know too much about martial arts. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy sports a lot. I grew up playing basketball and running track, and the only ‘fighting’ sport I had any exposure to were the forced karate classes I had to take in the eighth grade. It was just never something I was exposed to, or something we’d watch religiously with the whole family like tennis or badminton, unable to change your sitting position because it might give your favourite athlete bad juju.
But don’t take my stupid ignorance as a sign that our country hasn’t produced some of the world’s finest fighters. From Mary Kom in boxing to Puja Tomar in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), India has constantly churned out the top most calibre of combat sportspeople, with wrestling bringing in medals consecutively in the last four Olympics.
We have a very complicated relationship with sports in India. We want to see our athletes succeed and bring in accolades and medals at the highest possible level, but without giving them the visibility and support they deserve and need to achieve this. To bring more eyeballs to competitive fighting, FightClub in Bengaluru is organising weekly sessions to train beginners in various techniques and highlight the effort and discipline that go into becoming a trained fighter.
Positioning themselves as the "antidote to the run club epidemic", FightClub centres the athlete’s mindset. There's no mucking around and no incentives like a coffee rave to persuade you to come join them; just the sheer will to learn and explore a new sport. “Athletes hold fitness very dear to them; for them running is sacred, and it's become this whole shallow thing where you need a stimulus every time and a dopamine kick. The key to getting into fitness using the athlete’s mindset is so that you can be a better person. It shouldn't be motivated by anything else,” says Arham Azmath, the founder of FightClub.
Led under the mentorship veteran MMA fighter and coach Abdul “Cutman” Muneer, who has paved the way for his fighters to compete internationally, FightClub is designed for beginners. Each 90-minute session predominantly centres on acquainting them with the basics of boxing, like stance and guard. The session ends with a simulated fight where participants fight each other for one minute while supervised by the hosts and trainers, using the skills they learned during the session.
The main goal of FightClub is to promote the sport. Azmath believes that if you train for the sport, you appreciate it, and when you appreciate the sport you start watching it, bringing more attention and eyeballs to this extremely under-appreciated sport subculture in our country. It’s less about creating professional fighters and more about building an audience that understands what it takes to step into a ring.
Combat sports can seem brutal and intimidating from the outside, but the more you learn about them, the more you respect and understand the work that goes into building and establishing yourself in this sport, like any other. That awareness, Azmath hopes, is what will gradually reshape how people view these sports. If more people experience even a small part of the training process, they begin to recognise the athleticism and discipline that goes into every round.
Us Indians become passionate about things, from cricket to our politics, very quickly, and once we pledge our allegiance, it’s nearly impossible for us to let go of that feeling of loyalty. That is an extremely valuable asset to have. Unfortunately for sports in India, we rally around only a select few sports or specific groups of sportspeople, and FightClub is trying to draw our attention to a sporting ecosystem that has long existed on the fringes of mainstream attention in India. FightClub itself It's become a bit of a 'buzz phrase', but they truly are building a community that can learn and grow around this sport and its athletes, giving India’s fighters the audience they deserve.
FightClub Bengaluru is made up of Arham Azmath, Aayush Diph, Shebin K Ibrahim, Indiyana, Arjun Kshtriyas, and Kadesh Berlin.
You can follow FightCLub on Instagram here to learn more and keep up with updates.
