Ritu Phogat reveals the experience of being cornered by her father

Ritu Phogat picked up her second straight win in Mixed Martial Arts this past month at ONE: King of the Jungle. The Indian sensation defeated Wu Chiao Chen via a unanimous decision at the event and showcased some great dominance throughout the three-rounds.

While the win was indeed a special one for Ritu, there was something more exciting about the bout for her. Unlike her debut fight in ONE Championship, this time around, she was being cornered by her father and Olympics Coach, Mahavir Singh Phogat.

Although Ritu is used to being coached by her father throughout the years, this is the first time that he cornered her for an MMA bout. Ritu noted that she was delighted to have him by her corner for the fight.

“It felt really great. When I went to the corner after the first round, my dad said, ‘Finish the match, why are you taking so much time?’ I was feeling really proud to have him there with me,” she noted via ONE Championship.

The Indian MMA star went on to add that she learned a lot from her fight with Chen.

 “I have the utmost respect for all my opponents. She gave me a tough match. This will help me in my future matches. You learn something from every match and I have learned a lot from this match. My coach told me that I could have finished the match, but overall, [my] performance was really good,” Ritu added.

She also noted that she is open to any fight that her coach chooses for her while concluding that she is focussed completely on her training without having any particular opponent in mind.