People have asked my parents why they allow me to fight, says Naipunya Sunil

17 August 2020

Naipunya Sunil has her own place in the history books of Indian MMA. She was the first Indian female fighter to step into the cage at the IMMAF World Championships and recently left her mark at Matrix Fight Night as well when she competed against Ishika Thite at Matrix Fight Night 4.

The Keralite was a guest on the Beautiful Minds Chat Show on Instagram hosted by Kirthi Rohitram last day where she opened up about the MMA fight that made her take up the sport.

Naipunya, who started her combat sports journey through boxing, noted that the first-ever MMA fight that she saw came from the Super Fight League which in turn, motivated her to transition into Mixed Martial Arts.

“I was not inspired by a UFC fighter in the start. In fact, the first fight that I saw was that of a fellow Keralite, Sharath Babu. I saw his SFL fight and it was the first MMA fight that I saw and that’s how I got inspired to take up MMA,” she said in the interview.

For the uninitiated, Sharath Babu competed in the Super Fight League back in 2012-13 and has a record of 3-1 to his name currently.

Naipunya went on to add that her family has been supportive of her journey as a combat athlete and that there will always be a lot of people to demotivate you.

“A lot of people have asked my parents why they are allowing me to compete in combat sports. My parents, however, have always supported me. There will be a lot of people who will be there to demotivate you, but the best thing to do will be to smile at them and move on with what you love the most,” she said.

She also opened up about her starting days, her coach Ranjith and much more. You can check out the complete interview on Evoke Beyond The Limits channel on Youtube or Instagram.

Image Courtesy: MFN