Collecting Medals and Arms: The Story of Indian MMA Fighter Sumit Bhyan

Sumit Bhyan was always involved in something physical from a young age itself; whether it was helping his family with farming on their fields in Haryana or playing Kabaddi and wrestling in his village.

What proved to be a normal life of Sumit’s however took a sharp turn when his friends in college suggested him to take up sports. His brother, who is now in the Indian Army, was an avid follower of former UFC Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and when both these things met, it was a no-brainer for Sumit to choose Mixed Martial Arts.

Shifting to Mumbai for MMA

In search of the best place to start his training in MMA, Sumit landed up in Mumbai where he kick-started his training under Jitendra Khare of Team Relentless. Shifting from Haryana to Mumbai was something that he struggled with at the start but his friends came to the rescue once again. They managed to get him a job and a place to stay which supported his initial days in the world of MMA.

In no time, Sumit made his MMA debut at the X1 International event which was held in Chennai, and ended up getting the fastest knockout in the event and a win.

He then followed this up with his first international win which came at Octagon FC in Malaysia where he choked out Muhammad Syafiq Bin Jamalu for a quick victory. But Sumit was only getting started in the international circuit.

GAMMA World Championship Silver Medal

After his win in Malaysia, Sumit competed at the GAMMA World Championships which was held in Singapore back in 2019. The first match in the World Championship for Sumit came against Russia’s Timur Sinen and he came out with a submission win in the fight to progress into the quarter-finals of his category.

Ukraine’s Oleh Andrieiev was the challenge that stood in front of Sumit for the quarter-finals. Sumit continued his streak of submission wins here as well by picking up an arm-bar triangle finish and move to the semi-finals where he was matched up against Adliet Nurmatov of Kyrgyzstan.

Nurmatov was sitting on a three-fight winning streak when he fought Sumit but the result remained in favor of the Indian who locked in a Kimura to get the job done. Nurmatov has turned professional since then and won both of his fights.

Although Sumit missed out on the Gold Medal at the championship after his loss to Ilya Freymanov of Russia in the finals, it was indeed a memorable run by the Indian. Interestingly enough, most of Sumit’s win came via the Kimura which he says is something that naturally comes to him when he fights.

Winning Nationals again, UGC Crown, and GAMMA Asian MMA Championship 2021

2 Minute 11 Seconds of Cage Time is what Sumit Bhyan needed to win three fights and win the Lightweight Gold Medal at the GAMMA India MMA Nationals 2021 which was held in Bangalore. With the win, he booked his place in the GAMMA Asian Championships in Kyrgyzstan but before he traveled to the Asian Championships, Sumit went on to secure another major win at Ultimate Grappling Championship 1.

Ultimate Grappling Championship 1 was a 32-man single-elimination grappling tournament held in Pune and Sumit ended up cleaning up the competition and emerged as the winner which set up the momentum perfectly for his GAMMA Asian MMA championship campaign. Here also, it was his Kimura that stood out as Sumit won most of his fights with the move.

Although financial hurdles were in front of him ahead of the Asian Championship, Sumit ended up making his mark in Kyrgyzstan. He got a decision win over Serikuly Timur of Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals and submitted Aslan Oraz of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals to book his place in the finals. In the process, he ended up dislocating the arm of Aslan as well with his submission.

A small mistake cost Sumit his gold medal in the finals, but yet again, he proved that he is someone worth watching out for.

With a good amount of amateur experience on his resume, Sumit is now hoping to make his mark in the professional MMA Circuit and is awaiting the perfect opportunity so that he can make his mark.

What do you think of the journey of Sumit? Let us know in the comment section of the article below.

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