'I was offered an enormous amount to promote betting app but I refused': Puja Tomar - 1st Indian to win in UFC

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is still in its nascent stage in India but there is one name that has made notable progress and etched her name in the history book. We are talking about Puja Tomar, the first Indian to register a win in the UFC - a feat she achieved by beating Brazil's Rayanne dos Santos last year. The victory may be inconsequential as far as the UFC women's strawweight division is considered, the category in which Puja competes, but it did help in changing the narrative - "can Indian fighters prove their mettle?" in MMA's most prominent platform.

Puja, herself, had encountered the same unpleasant questions by foreign journalists before her fight against Santos. "Before winning the bout journalists from other countries would ask - 'If I think I can win?', 'Do you think an Indian can win in the UFC?' These questions used to pinch me and I wanted to show yes we (Indians) can do it," she told moneycontrol.com in an interview earlier this week.

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While Puja still follows a simple lifestyle, she is happy with the adulation she gets after her feat in the UFC, which on a few occasions has also caught her off-guard. "I remember bargaining at a shop and felt people were waiting for me to leave the counter so that they could make their purchases. However, I was surprised as they waited to click pictures with me. This made me realise 'Okay people have started to recognise me.'"