Raiwat Sagdeo, a 21-year-old man from Nagpur, is pushing hard to make his name in the tough world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Raiwat’s staunch determination helped him start his journey in the contact sport, even when his parents weren’t convinced.
His family didn’t have any connection to the sport. While his father worked in the private sector, his mother was a homemaker. Having spent his childhood in Pinjore, located on the Haryana-Himachal border, he got introduced to martial arts in school through taekwondo and karate classes, which were in extracurricular activities.
Currently, he’s training at Bali MMA under Aleksei Zhiganov, who’s renowned for helping both professional and amateur fighters hone their skills. The Bruce Lee and Conor McGregor fan draws his inspiration from the top fighters in the sport as he looks forward to turning pro this year, following an amateur record of 4-2-0.
In an exclusive interview with The Sportz Planet Raiwat spoke about his journey in the field of Mixed Martial Arts and much more. Excerpts of the interview are below:
Question: Could you please start by telling us how were you first introduced to martial arts?
Raiwat: So I was in school. I was probably in my second or third grades. And in my school, they had extracurricular activities, twice a week.
One day I was given a sheet of paper to opt for a “art” class. At that time I did not know the word “martial arts” . I thought it would be some form of sketching. I really used to like sketching at that time. So I opted for “martial arts”because I thought that it would be some form of art.
When I attended my first “martial art” class, I saw people with uniforms and belts and throwing punches and kicking. It was then I realised I had opted for a wrong “art” form. But then I couldn’t say no. So I started doing Taekwondo. Initially it wasn’t that serious. That was how I was introduced to “martial arts”.
Also when I was 12 years of age, I was in fifth or sixth standard, I started watching movies. I started watching Bruce Lee movies. That also inspired me.
I also started doing Karate. But when I used to do Karate I used to land punches. But when I used to land a punch I used to get disqualified.
My Karate coach was really open-minded. He said to me if Karate is not working out for me, I could try something else. An actual contact sport. That is how I started doing Mixed Martial Arts. Also I started watching a lot of videos of Conor McGregor, who is a legend of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
Also Read: Chasing Greatness — Nagpur’s Raiwat Sagdeo Confident Of Making A Mark In MMA
Question: There are infrastructural and financial issues that athletes who want to practice Mixed Martial Arts face here in India. That is why you have also moved to Bali to train. What challenges have you faced?
Raiwat: Oh, absolutely. They were absolutely big challenges. So my first time doing mixed martial arts was in Chennai. I trained at a center. Athough it was a good facility, it wasn’t anything compared to what I’m seeing right now in world-class facilities. I have trained in the best gym in India, which is Crosstrain Fight Club. It’s still my home gym. I still go there when I am in India.
With that infrastructure, we don’t have the kind of facilities that we have here in Bali or maybe we have in Thailand. There we have different kind of facilities for different kind of sports. For Mixed Martial Arts, they have a proper boxing ring. They have an actual cage. They have a big thousand square feet of mat. In India, we do not have this. So we can’t practice.
Question: I read that your parents weren’t convinced initially to let you pursue a career in Mixed Martial Arts. So how did you end up convincing them.
Raiwat: My parents weren’t convinced initially and that is natural. My mom and dad are well educated. They also wanted me to get good education. . And I have no opposite thoughts to that. Of course, anyone would do that. My mom never said no, “She doesn’t do mixed martial arts.” She always said, “Do it, but do it as a hobby and keep doing your thing.”
But to me, it wasn’t a hobby. If I had to do something, I want to make it a career. To be honest with you, the chances of making it in mixed martial arts are less than 0.2%. My parents were like, “This is not a real career.”. To me, actually, it’s not false. I don’t blame them at all. But I just told them, “Please give me some years. And I will do the thing that I’m doing at this. And I’m working enough to make it unique in the arts.”
Question: In Mixed Martial Arts, athletes do tend to receive a lot of dangerous injuries. And injuries also come up with a lot of mental pressure. How do you deal with these injuries and the mental side of those injuries?
Raiwat: When I got into the sport, I knew that injuries were going to happen. In Mixed Martial Arts athletes are trained to break limbs, break arms, knees, ankles, nose, crack orbitals. Funnily enough, in my first ever fight, which was a boxing fight, I knocked out my opponent. I always knew that injuries were going to happen.
It’s very unpredictable. To avoid injuries and to take care of injuries, I would say that you have to train very very smart. . Let’s say I have messed up my shoulder. I’m not going to push through it. I really hurt my shoulder, but I’m not going to stop doing it because my shoulder is injured. But my hands are good. My ankles are good. My other hand is okay. I can still work out. I keep this philosophy that anything and everything can always happen.
I think in that way. Also, it would be really smart training. Like you can’t be stupid. And you know, going really hard in training and then injuring yourself in training. Not setting yourself up by making things.
Question: You have said that Bruce Lee and Conor McGregor are your inspirations. So what have you learned from each of them? What life lessons have you taken from them?
Raiwat: The key lesson from Bruce Lee is that you have to stay open-minded. Never say no to a technique. Never say this doesn’t work. Everything works. Everything has a space in mind. It’s on the athlete if you want to make it work or not. It’s not like that my school of MMA is superior than your school of MMA or his school of MMA. His school of MMA can beat mine. Mine can beat this. It’s not in the teaching, it’s on the athlete. If you want to learn from Bruce Lee, like every technique works.
From Conor McGregor, the biggest key lesson I take is having self-belief. I feel like a lot of athletes have really, really good potential, but they lack self-belief.
Question: You have said that you are chasing “greatness”. What according to you is greatness? How do you wish to pursue it?
Raiwat: Everybody has their own definition of “greatness” . To me right now I would say for me, reaching the UFC is and will or was never my goal. Reaching the UFC is never the goal. Because if it’s an eventuality, it’s not a goal. Eventually it will happen. Eventually it will happen. If you want to be the best in the world, there’s a point that you have to prove yourself in the UFC. It’s a company after all.
Let’s say I’m a good engineer. I want to work for Google or Microsoft. If I am a good engineer, eventually Microsoft or Google will take me.
I have to be the best version that I can be. I feel like my best version, I’m strong, I’m fast, I’m athletic, I have these natural talents given from God. I’m hardworking, which is my own effort that I put up. And I feel like once this part that is that I’m going in right now and everything.
When I am at my best, I will be the best in the world. So I, so that to me will be greatness.
Question: How do you see the future of Mixed Martial Arts in India?
Raiwat: I would say, MMA in India is growing really fast. But the harsh reality is, we are not even close to the pinnacle. Not even close. It is going to take us a while to get there. But I feel like once we get there and once the wave will start. Countries like America and Russia are dominating in this field. I think in next 10 years, India will be one of those countries.
Question: Where is India lacking and how can India become a superpower in MMA?
Raiwat: I will tell you why other countries are superpowers in MMA and I will tell you why India is not a superpower in the sport.
Other countries have combat culture. Like how in India every kid can swing a bat and swing a ball, in those countries wrestling is in the culture. Every kid can wrestle. The kids start wrestling at a very very young age. They start in combat sport at an age of five. So by the time they are 20 something they have good 15 to 16 years of experience. That is why these countries are dominating. On top of it the facilities that these athletes get is world class. I think we don’t really have that combat culture. We also start very very late.
People say, that we are not genetically superior,, strong, weak, diet. All that is nothing. I think it is all about when you’re starting, and then how are you supporting yourself to build it up.
If we get ourselves that culture of combat sport, maybe most- a large part of the challenge will be taken care of.
Prakhar Sachdeo
The Sportz Planet Desk
