Owais Yaqoob, 22, has come to realize how much the sleepless nights, chronic physical pain and years of tortuous financial struggle all fade into the background when he steps into the cage with the Indian flag draped over his shoulders. A native of Murran in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Owais is the first mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Jammu and Kashmir to represent India on the world stage. He is on a five-fight winning streak and preparing for his biggest fight as he meets Bulgaria's undefeated Delyan Georgiev at BRAVE CF 107. But for Owais the real success is not in the numbers of the judges but in his country, his proudness to wave his country’s flag all across the world.
Owais’ athletic career started far from modern combat cages. He was raised in a country where the conversation was almost always around cricket and football and had a passion for combat sports, as he was inspired in part by his grandfather’s days as a wrestler. In 2013 he enrolled in a local martial arts club in Kashmir for Thang-Ta -- an old Indian martial art. What started as basic physical training soon turned into a passion. He went into Taekwondo and Karate and won 11 gold and six silver medals at national camps. In amateur MMA, he honed his wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing skills under Gurkaran Singh Sawhney at Indian Top Team (ITT) Fight Club in Chandigarh where he won national titles and got a contract with Tiger Shroff-backed Matrix Fight Night (MFN).
But it was a tough road to international recognition that was paved with a lot of struggle. His father became seriously ill in 2016 and the financial burden of the household fell solely on young Owais. With early competitions giving no prize money and requiring him to buy his own travel and training he was forced to take on a multitude of odd jobs— working as a medical representative and doing fitness classes at local gyms, catering and apple picking and apple packaging— Owais poured every dollar he earned back into his training from 2017 to 2021. Owais had a steady stream of sponsors who were willing to back him up and brought him to Dubai for a training stint with former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov where he was given a renewed warrior spirit.
Besides individual success to him, Owais sees every international fight as a chance to challenge stereotypes and to prove the potential for his home. Kashmir has so much untapped youth talent that needs to be developed, he says, and the Pulwama region of the state still has no indoor stadium for its athletes. Once he steps into the cage to meet Georgiev, Owais is intent on the fight but also on the story of success on a future level that is inspiring and inspiring the new generation of athletes coming up from India’s grassroots.
