‘I didn’t set out to break records’: Pakistan’s first female MMA fighter

Islamabad, Pakistan – Six months into her grooming arsenic a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Anita Karim grappled with her begetter connected their surviving country floor, knocking him unconscious successful six seconds.

Sitting successful a engaged java store successful Pakistan’s superior connected a balmy time successful October, Anita laughs arsenic she recalls that summertime day successful 2017.

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“Papa was stronger, and helium pulled maine down, but I had amended technique, truthful I went down him and applied a rear-naked choke – a martial arts chokehold – and counted the seconds until helium was out,” she says.

“He regained consciousness quickly,” she adds, “but not earlier my mum had screamed astatine maine for trying to termination my father.”

Her father, however, was impressed with her skills.

It was Anita’s archetypal travel backmost to her household location successful Karimabad, a historical municipality successful bluish Pakistan’s mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan portion 2,500 metres (8,200ft) supra oversea level and 700km (435 miles) from Islamabad, wherever she was surviving and grooming with her 3 older brothers.

A fewer months earlier, she told her parents implicit a tense telephone telephone that her bosom was acceptable connected MMA and she was dropping retired of assemblage to go a fighter.

Dressed successful airy bluish jeans, a achromatic T-shirt and a brownish bomber jacket, Anita smiles arsenic she retraces her travel into the brutal satellite of MMA fighting.

MMA is simply a full-contact combat athletics that combines techniques from boxing, grappling, karate, Brazilian jiujitsu and kickboxing. A emblematic MMA bout leaves some fighters with a bloodied face, bruised body, swollen eyes and, occasionally, breached limbs.

Before Anita’s planetary debut successful July 2018, nary pistillate from Pakistan had ever competed successful an planetary MMA fight.

Now, 8 years later, Anita is preparing to measurement into the ringing arsenic a location favourite erstwhile Pakistan hosts its first-ever nonrecreational women’s MMA combat connected Saturday. She volition combat Parisa Shamsabadi of Iran for the pistillate championship.

Anita volition header Pakistan’s archetypal planetary women’s MMA combat [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

‘A missing piece’

MMA did not look connected the sporting scenery successful Pakistan until the aboriginal 2010s, and it was not officially recognised arsenic a athletics successful the state until 2020.

But Anita threw caution to the upwind and swapped a spot astatine a renowned nationalist assemblage for a assemblage that nary Pakistani pistillate had ventured into before. There were nary guarantees of a dependable income oregon acceptance successful the male-dominated sport.

Still, her father, Nisar, and her mother, Nelofar, reluctantly allowed their girl to proceed but not without apprehensions and a warning: There would beryllium nary giving up erstwhile the going got tough.

“I didn’t caput erstwhile my parents told maine I couldn’t crook backmost from the roadworthy I had taken to go an MMA fighter. Martial arts was thing I grew up with, truthful I was determined to carve retired a vocation successful the sport,” she says matter-of-factly.

Nisar, who worked arsenic a information guard, had agelong been funny successful combat sports, and his 3 sons – Uloomi Karim, Ali Sultan and Ehtisham Karim – had each tried their hands astatine MMA agelong earlier their sister became an planetary athlete.

After sitting astatine the cafe for much than 10 minutes, Anita does not look funny successful buying a java oregon adjacent a vessel of water. She’s anxious to transportation connected with her story, which turns towards her brothers and however their Islamabad gym, Fight Fortress, became her gateway into the sport.

“My brothers began grooming different athletes from a tiny spot of writer successful a park, and present their gym is amongst the astir sought-after places for MMA training,” Anita says, her look beaming with pride.

Initially, she tagged on to the gym conscionable to bent retired with her brothers. Gradually, Anita started dabbling successful airy grooming to enactment acceptable and resume her earlier martial arts training.

Watching her brothers bid got Anita thinking. She would representation herself with a beardown body, a accomplishment acceptable of the champion MMA moves and her arms raised successful victory.

“I felt that successful MMA, I had recovered a missing portion successful life.”

Anita began grooming successful MMA successful 2017 astatine a combat sports gym tally by her brothers successful Islamabad [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

A signifier of self-defence

It is simply a mates of hours aft Friday’s midday prayers, and the cafe is present bustling with a precocious day surge of customers – students settling successful with a cupful of java and books, transportation drivers picking up orders, and groups of young men and women taking selfies and chatting implicit coffee.

Anita, however, seems oblivious to her surroundings and the expanding sound levels arsenic she travels backmost successful clip to her childhood.

Born connected October 2, 1996, into a household of the Burusho people, an ethnolinguistic group, Anita says she was raised successful a “simple middle-class lifestyle” successful the mountains.

The radical of Karimabad fig astir 15,000 and mostly travel Ismailism, a sect of Shia Islam, and trust connected agriculture arsenic a root of income.

Anita’s hometown is the superior of Hunza District and sits successful a vale known arsenic the crown jewel of Pakistan’s breathtaking bluish scenery of icy bluish rivers, snow-capped mountains, lush greenish terraces of effect orchards, centuries-old forts and glaciers.

The family’s terraced location was built into the rugged Karakoram mountains.

“Like astir different houses successful the town, ours was besides precocious up supra the stream and offered spectacular views of the valley,” she says.

Anita would aftermath up to spot the prima emergence from down the snow-capped Rakaposhi (the Shining Wall), the 27th highest upland successful the world, and reluctantly permission the warmth of her furniture connected bitterly acold mornings to commencement her schoolhouse day.

The Hunza River flows done the Karakoram upland scope successful Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan portion [Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]

She and her brothers, similar astir section children, walked to schoolhouse connected the narrow, unevenly sloped streets that tally done Karimabad. Given the abbreviated distances and mostly unpaved roads, walking is however astir locals person got astir for decades.

After school, Anita would marque her mode to the taekwondo lessons that her begetter enrolled her in.

“In a way, my begetter sparked an involvement successful combat sports by pushing maine towards taekwondo erstwhile I was seven,” she says.

“He wanted maine to larn martial arts truthful I could beryllium beardown similar my brothers and arsenic a signifier of self-defence. He felt that carnal spot could instil a consciousness of independency successful maine from an aboriginal age.”

The 29-year-old remembers trying to sneak distant aft schoolhouse to play with her friends successful the neighbourhood, lone for her dada to drawback her and propulsion her backmost to her lessons. “He would ne'er interest astir my grades, but I dared not miss those after-school martial arts classes,” she recalls.

Anita explains that it was important to Nisar that she could support herself.

Leaning guardant aft a fewer seconds of silence, she recalls an incidental erstwhile a antheral chased her portion she was retired moving successful the fields.

“I wasn’t excessively acold from my house, truthful I hurried backmost location and told my father, who came retired and furiously bushed the man. I added a fewer kicks arsenic well,” she remembers with a bitter laugh.

It brings backmost much aboriginal memories of fighting. They progressive putting immoderate of her skills to usage successful neighbourhood scuffles betwixt children.

“I would beryllium pushed guardant successful each neighbourhood fights, particularly if they progressive boys. Yeah, I got into rather a fewer of them and bushed up galore boys.”

Anita trains astatine Fight Fortress, a combat grooming gym tally by her brothers successful Islamabad [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

Childhood successful the mountains

After having 3 sons, Anita’s begetter doted connected her and she mostly got her mode with him – from getting distant with the occasional mediocre grades astatine schoolhouse to aboriginal winning his support connected her prime of career. But she couldn’t bash the aforesaid with her “military chief” mother, who taught her household chores.

Nelofar, a housewife who aboriginal worked arsenic a beverage woman astatine a section college, would get her 10-year-old girl to assistance with cooking, cleaning and laundry.

Anita would besides enactment successful strenuous shifts successful the fields.

The “early years of carnal training”, arsenic she calls them with a sarcastic laugh, progressive climbing backmost location into the mountains from the low-lying terraced fields successful the vale with a dense load connected her back.

“We would transportation sacks afloat of apricots from the family’s grove successful outpouring and summer, the past remaining greenish leaves and writer for my family’s cattle successful autumn and firewood successful winter,” she says nonchalantly, indicating however it was embedded into upland children’s mundane lives.

The arduous hikes location would sometimes instrumentality an hr oregon longer and would beryllium followed by the task of washing and spreading retired the deep-golden apricots to adust them successful the sun.

And portion Anita wasn’t fond of carrying retired those laborious tasks arsenic a schoolgirl, she looks backmost connected those years with gratitude.

“It’s a nexus backmost to my roots, a portion of my individuality that I don’t privation to permission down – not similar I person overmuch prime arsenic mum inactive keeps maine connected my toes whenever I instrumentality home,” she jokes, adding that she’s grateful for the accidental it provides to disconnect from the grind of metropolis life.

While having her time packed with chores and after-school lessons, which besides included evening classes astatine the section spiritual centre, Anita was expected to bash good successful schoolhouse and yet spell to university.

Hunza is renowned for its precocious literacy complaint – 95 percent compared with the nationalist mean of 61 percent – and for providing adjacent acquisition and entrepreneurial opportunities for men and women. It is an anomaly, particularly for a distant portion successful Pakistan, wherever galore girls successful likewise isolated villages and towns bash not person entree to superior education. Overall, 1 successful 5 girls successful the state is joined earlier the property of 18.

Anita credits her community’s leaders, specifically the Aga Khan, the spiritual person of the Ismaili Shia Muslim assemblage internationally, for encouraging parents to amended their daughters.

“We travel our [Ismaili] imam’s guidance and instructions. It helps support a beardown consciousness of enslaved wrong the community,” she says.

“While successful different parts of Pakistan, antithetic communities effort to bring each different down, we physique each different up successful Hunza,” she adds proudly.

The speech returns to her determination successful 2017 to Islamabad.

While determination to survey for a assemblage degree, Anita, past 20, recovered herself reluctant to instrumentality to the “mould”.

“In our [Pakistani] culture, arsenic soon arsenic a miss is born, it is presumed that aft attaining a definite level of acquisition – if she’s fortunate – she volition get joined and person kids,” she says with a wide look of annoyance.

“That’s not what a woman’s beingness should beryllium restricted to,” she adds, shaking her head.

“She should person the close to marque her ain choices. I was fortunate to person supportive parents who backed maine erstwhile I took that leap of faith.”

Karimabad is the main municipality successful the Hunza Valley and is surrounded by the Karakoram scope [Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]

‘The Arm Collector’

Once Anita’s parents were connected committee with her MMA vocation plan, her brothers took her nether their helping for training.

That archetypal year, she focused connected gathering her carnal strength, agility and stamina successful summation to mastering the skills connected her trainee fighter’s CV.

An MMA combatant indispensable not lone beryllium beardown to past successful the ringing – usually for 3 rounds of 5 minutes each – but besides indispensable rapidly bounce backmost from an onslaught of kicks, punches, genu and elbow strikes, assemblage slams, associated locks and chokeholds.

Anita’s brothers knew what she would face. Ehtisham and Ali had been grooming MMA fighters since 2008, and Uloomi made his ain MMA debut successful 2014. So they enactment her done months of rigorous training.

Her wide grin and light-hearted code instrumentality erstwhile she talks astir her siblings.

“My brothers are my champion friends, my relation models, my mentors and my toughest trainers,” she says.

Uloomi, who was past 1 of the champion MMA fighters successful Pakistan, would amusement nary restraint erstwhile grooming with his sister, delivering assemblage slams, genu kicks and a flurry of punches to her face.

As the lone miss astatine the gym and the archetypal pistillate Pakistani MMA fighter, Anita’s sparring partners and signifier combat opponents were each men, which helped her physique up her spot for her archetypal fight.

Most of Anita’s grooming partners are men [Faras Ghani/Al Jazeera]

Most planetary fighters motion with planetary promotions, backstage companies that declaration fighters and organise competitions, connected the backmost of amateur fights. Because women’s MMA fights were not introduced successful Pakistan until aft 2020, Anita could not travel that path.

Instead, she participated successful section martial arts competitions, won astir of them and picked up her fighter’s nickname “The Arm Collector”.

Anita shrugs nonchalantly arsenic she recalls the achy incidental from a Brazilian jiujitsu lucifer erstwhile she dislocated her opponent’s elbow. She laughs with a competitory tone erstwhile she tells the communicative of however she earned the nickname.

“I had a miss down connected the mat successful an Americana lock, a shoulder-lock move, but she wasn’t consenting to pat retired [of the fight], truthful I looked quizzically astatine my member Uloomi, who was watching from my ringside corner. He told maine to use much pressure. I yanked harder and felt her limb spell limp,” she recounts.

“The girl’s teammate came onto the mat to look maine adjacent and vowed revenge. I pulled the aforesaid determination connected her, and the effect was the same. That’s however I got the nickname.”

Breaking limbs is not communal successful martial arts fights, but immoderate chokehold positions tin effect successful snapped oregon dislocated arms if the fighter, particularly an amateur, does not pat retired swiftly enough.

With nary prospects of an MMA tourney astatine location owed to a deficiency of competitions and pistillate fighters, Anita made the leap to nonrecreational MMA warring successful July 2018.

Her baptism by occurrence came successful Singapore against Nyrene Crowley, an experienced combatant from New Zealand 7 years her senior. Crowley forced Anita into submission 2 minutes into the 2nd round. It was a world cheque for the novice and 1 that sent her backmost to the drafting board.

Back astatine the gym successful Islamabad, the grooming sessions got much gruelling and the signifier fights much intense. Seven months later, Anita returned to the aforesaid ringing arsenic a smarter and stronger fighter.

Lighter connected her feet, much diligent with her moves and visibly much muscular, she faced Indonesia’s Gita Suharsono for her 2nd fight.

The 152cm-tall (5ft-tall) Anita utilized her shorter tallness to get nether Gita’s 5cm (6-inch) taller framework to onshore hooks and jabs that near the Indonesian frustrated. After 3 rounds and a unanimous determination by the judges, Anita secured her archetypal planetary MMA win.

Anita reacts aft winning her archetypal planetary MMA combat against Indonesia’s Gita Suharson successful February 2019 [Courtesy of Anita Karim]

Hero’s welcome

As the archetypal Pakistani pistillate to triumph an planetary fight, Anita expected the effect to marque waves backmost home, but she wasn’t prepared for the scenes that unfolded upon her instrumentality a fewer days later.

It was 1 of the astir singular moments successful her life, and Anita holds connected to the memories dearly, recalling them with tears successful her eyes.

“I was stunned to spot hundreds of supporters chanting my sanction and jostling to get a person glimpse of maine astatine Islamabad airport,” she says, her dependable raised with excitement.

After squeezing past the assemblage nether a ablution of petals with garlands astir her cervix and bouquets successful hand, Anita stopped successful her tracks. A radical of men had encircled her successful an impromptu creation acceptable to accepted Hunzai music.

Such expansive gestures are usually reserved for Pakistan’s antheral cricketers. Olympic gold-medal javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem was a uncommon objection successful 2024.

“I had ne'er seen specified a large assemblage astatine the airport. It was incredibly heartwarming, and past things got truly brainsick erstwhile I went to Hunza.

“On the thrust home, I was soaking successful the views and enjoying the tranquillity I consciousness whenever I’m successful Hunza, but arsenic soon arsenic we approached Hassanabad Bridge, the country changed dramatically.”

Hassanabad is the past municipality on the Karakoram Highway earlier it crosses implicit the Hunza River towards Karimabad. The bridge, which crumbled owed to the bursting of a glacial water successful 2022 flooding, served arsenic an entryway into Karimabad and its surrounding areas.

Anita gets animated – sitting up straighter and smiling wider – astatine the notation of her hometown and raises her dependable to talk implicit the chatter from adjacent tables and the dependable of Billie Eilish songs playing wrong the java shop.

“Traffic connected the narrow, single-carriage road was abruptly diverted to a one-way way each the mode up to Karimabad. Hundreds of men, women and children had lined up connected either broadside of the roadworthy to invited me,” she recalls.

She explains however she stopped astatine each municipality and neighbourhood on the mode to greet her fans, turning the usually 45-minute travel into a five-hour trip.

Her dependable goes quieter, and she pauses to instrumentality a heavy breath.

“It was worthy each second, though, erstwhile I saw my parents waiting for maine astatine the doorstep,” she says.

“When I began grooming successful 2017, I didn’t acceptable retired to interruption immoderate records oregon thigh up adulation. I conscionable wanted to beryllium my champion astatine thing I loved and marque my parents proud. But erstwhile I saw the outpouring of love, it felt similar a transformative moment. Perhaps I had changed the country’s position connected women successful MMA.”

As the section leader happily spent the pursuing period hosting guests and visiting section schools and colleges to conscionable anxious caller fans, 1 infinitesimal stood retired for her.

“I was invited to a celebratory lawsuit astatine the assemblage wherever my mum worked arsenic a beverage lady, and erstwhile we were asked to measurement connected the signifier together, I couldn’t combat my tears,” she says with a quivering voice.

“It was my proudest infinitesimal – my parent was honoured due to the fact that of maine and sat alongside me.”

Training successful Thailand

Inside the cafe, Anita draws a fewer lingering looks from the adjacent tables, but radical are different absorbed successful their ain conversations. With a heavy breath, she takes a heavy dive into the astir important and investigating play of her career.

Once the particulate had settled connected her trailblazing win, Anita’s coaching squad felt the request to crank up the strength of her grooming and signifier sessions earlier bigger fights.

A fewer months later, she signed with Fairtex, a well-known Muay Thai gym successful Pattaya, Thailand, that has trained celebrated MMA fighters, including Alex Gong, Stamp Fairtex and Gilbert Melendez.

Thus began the astir gruelling and lonely years of Anita’s life.

She was plucked retired of the bubble of a family-run gym successful her location state and thrown into the premix with hundreds of fighters from astir the satellite successful a onshore with a centuries-old past of martial arts.

Fairtex laminitis and proprietor Philip Wong was a notoriously hard taskmaster and pushed his fighters to their limits.

Amid the grind of 14-hour grooming days, missing location and the months spent without friends, self-doubt often crept into Anita’s mind.

She continues to grin but looks down astatine her hands portion fidgeting nervously with her fingers. She dives backmost into her thoughts, sharing immoderate of the darkest moments from those aboriginal years successful Thailand.

“It wasn’t easy. I struggled mentally and physically,” she says, her dependable strained with emotion.

“I had to benignant it each retired by myself, from chopping disconnected my agelong hairsbreadth to celebrating Eid and different occasions connected my ain and coping with a battered body. There were moments erstwhile I wondered if it was each truly worthy it.”

When asked to explicate what those moments entailed, she nods dilatory earlier recalling a fewer instances erstwhile she had to excavation heavy to persevere.

“Once, I felt my genu springiness way, but I virtually taped it backmost successful to hole for a fight. I learned however to navigator amended due to the fact that I couldn’t unrecorded connected Thai food. My tegument broke out. I mislaid sleep. I feared losing due to the fact that it would bring the wrath of the brag [Philip]. I would beryllium nether a acold ablution to drown retired the thoughts of giving up.

“I would deliberation backmost to the infinitesimal I decided to driblet a assemblage grade and prime up the gloves and archer myself: ‘I’ve made it this far. There’s nary turning back.’”

She dilatory learned to header with doubts and injuries and made friends.

“I addressed my problems and fears by treating them similar puzzles,” she says, shrugging.

Anita moves her hands connected the array arsenic if to rearrange the pieces of an imaginary jigsaw puzzle to explicate however she would interruption down and rearrange pieces of the problem.

“I kept trying to travel up with antithetic solutions until 1 clicked.”

After battling her mode done the aboriginal struggles, Anita thrived successful Thailand. She trained with immoderate of the world’s champion fighters, including Muay Thai and MMA champion Stamp Fairtex, and roseate done the ranks to correspond the gym astatine combat sports events.

During her 5 years successful Thailand, she won 4 of her adjacent 5 fights and built a estimation arsenic 1 of the champion up-and-coming MMA fighters successful Asia.

Having completed strenuous grooming astatine Fairtex, Anita returned to Pakistan permanently successful August 2024, and successful September that year, she joined her semipermanent fiance, Hassan Gul Basti, whom she met astatine her brothers’ gym.

After a elemental Hunzai wedding, the mates moved backmost to Islamabad, wherever Hassan works arsenic an MMA and boxing trainer.

Anita’s grin grows wider arsenic she speaks of her hubby and his family.

“They are amongst my biggest fans and supporters. All they privation from maine is to beryllium the champion MMA fighter. Unlike astir in-laws successful Pakistani culture, determination is nary unit to walk much clip with them and nary unreserved to person kids.”

Anita spent 5 years honing her MMA skills astatine the Fairtex Training Center successful Pattaya, Thailand [Courtesy of Anita Karim]

Hustle to enactment afloat

A week aft the speech astatine the java shop, Anita offers a glimpse of her combat grooming regular astatine Fight Fortress, the gym tally by her brothers, wherever a prime radical of athletes trains for 90 minutes nether the watchful oculus of caput manager Sher Alam.

After a 45-minute, cardio-heavy warm-up, the radical gears up for combat grooming with shin guards and boxing gloves. During MMA fights, they tin deterioration lone grappling gloves, but for training, the athletes adhd other layers of extortion to minimise injuries. Once they are divided into pairs, a Muay Thai-style kickboxing league begins.

Anita is the archetypal 1 to propulsion punches. Her accustomed cheerful grin is replaced with a look of aggravated concentration.

With speedy movements and airy touches – the thought is to amended skills, not wounded partners during grooming – she spars for a fewer minutes earlier the roles are reversed. Next, she gets into a precocious guard, a boxing stance utilized for protecting the face, and moves with nimble footwork to enactment retired of her opponent’s range.

The thud of clashing gloves and the grunts of sparring fighters are occasionally interspersed with the coach’s instructions.

After a speedy hydration break, the pairs grapple successful abbreviated bursts of simulated drills, ranging from kicks to body-clinch moves and level sprawls. Despite her tiny frame, Anita matches her taller opponent. In 1 swift move, she grabs his limb and keeps him hopping successful a single-leg takedown until helium drops connected the mat.

Once the grooming wraps up, Anita winds down with the different fighters, forcing herself into their post-workout photos, sharing jokes and precocious fives. Soon, goodbyes are exchanged earlier the athletes battalion up their instrumentality and caput out.

Anita, though, stays a spot longer connected the mat and asks Sher to assistance her brushwood up connected immoderate grappling techniques.

With the archetypal of her day’s 3 grooming sessions done, Anita settles down connected the mat to uncover the conflict of surviving arsenic an MMA combatant successful an different cricket-mad country.

Seven years aft her breakthrough, which made her the look of women’s MMA successful Pakistan, Anita inactive does not gain capable from the athletics to wage her bills and spend a fighter’s lifestyle.

To marque ends meet, she uses her skills and acquisition to moonlight arsenic a idiosyncratic trainer for backstage clients. Like astir Pakistani fighters, including her brothers and the athletes she trains with, this broadside gig is important to staying afloat.

“It is not inexpensive to prolong yourself arsenic an MMA fighter. You request wealth for a regular intake of costly nutritional supplements, a high-protein diet, and for rehab and betterment pursuing large fights,” she explains arsenic she wipes beads of sweat disconnected her forehead.

Pakistan offers small successful lucrative semipermanent endorsements for astir athletes, but cricketers. This is particularly existent for MMA fighters, who person nary authorities stipends oregon fiscal support.

Finding sponsors, convincing them to perpetrate to a athletics that is not cricket and ensuring they don’t backmost retired of a woody is each portion of a fighter’s hustle.

Anita has not signed up for an planetary lawsuit since her past combat successful January 2024, which she attributes to the trouble of obtaining visas with a Pakistani passport and negotiating presumption with planetary MMA promotions.

But she does not dwell connected these troubles. Instead, she is looking guardant to competing successful Pakistan’s archetypal women’s MMA rubric combat connected Saturday.

Whether she’s preparing for a looming combat oregon simply training, Anita knows that maintaining her assurance and staying successful interaction with her roots are indispensable to her success.

“At the extremity of each grooming session, I station a selfie to consciousness bully astir myself and the enactment I enactment in, play immoderate Burushaski euphony connected my headphones, adjacent my eyes and fto it transportation maine backmost to Hunza.”