Suchika Tariyal won a world title, fought at the Commonwealth Games and went on Roadies. Now comes MMA at Asian Games

Suchika Tariyal has already lived several sporting lives. She fought at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Judo, represented India in Kurash at the 2023 Asian Games, collected national titles across three martial arts and won a world championship in Jiu-Jitsu. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

A few weeks before her Asian Games debut in mixed martial arts, Suchika Tariyal is back to basics. On a synthetic mat above a restaurant in Mumbai’s Andheri suburb, she splits her sessions between sparring and rules briefings from a referee who will officiate at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

It’s an unusual position for someone who has spent nearly three decades fighting. Tariyal has been a national-level judoka, reached a bronze medal bout at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, represented India in Kurash at the Asian Games, won a world title in fighting Jiu-Jitsu and had a brief run as a professional MMA fighter. Yet the rules of amateur MMA remain new to her.

“I was already fighting professionally but I saw a post on Instagram about trials for the Asian Games in Mumbai. I signed up without knowing the rules,” she tells Sportstar. She won those trials, beating three opponents, then travelled to China for the Asian Championships, where she reached the semifinals and secured a bronze before a defeat rooted less in ability than in unfamiliarity with the scoring system.

“I got her to the ground but was thinking like professional MMA, where you score for damage even from the bottom. Amateur rules are different,” she says.

At 36, Tariyal is relearning a sport at an age when most careers are ending. She laughs at the thought of saying it aloud, but there is no regret in it. “I’m still competing. I’m still having fun. The most fun I’m having is in this,” she says.

For Tariyal, though, this is only the latest chapter in a career that has repeatedly required her to start again.

Where it started

While she can’t imagine life without fighting, Suchika admits her entry into combat sports came by chance. It was a response to childhood trauma. The youngest of four daughters growing up in New Delhi, she recalls being sent to a neighbouring salon to get her hair cut when she was 10 years old.

“I hadn’t learned anything about good touch or bad touch but I knew what was happening was wrong. I ran back home with my hair only half cut,” she recalls.

The anger that followed, she says, turned into fights at school and a hostility towards boys, until her mother enrolled her in judo as an outlet.

“I’d start hating boys. I’d pick up fights with everyone in school. Finally my mother decided it was best to let me actually train in a martial art so she took me to a judo class,” she recalls.

It quickly became more than that. Tariyal discovered she had a genuine talent for the sport, winning her first national medal in 2011 and progressing through the age groups.

Progress off the mat was harder to come by, and harassment shadowed much of her career. At the Uttarakhand Police, she says she asked for time off to train and was instead met with inappropriate suggestions from seniors about how she could secure a promotion.

“It was just harassment. I was under so much mental trauma after that incident that I just left that job and returned to Delhi. It was always like this, where I wasn’t ever encouraged to improve as much as I wanted,” she says.

She later took another government job, but the setbacks continued. In 2018, after qualifying for the Asian Games through trials, her weight category was dropped from the squad 10 days before departure.

“My weight category (57kg) was dropped from the team 10 days before we were to leave but the weight category of others who had a worse record in international judo was kept. I always wondered whether things would’ve been different with a supporter in the system,” she says.

Her husband, Kapil Hooda, describes her as unwilling to defer to anyone for the sake of convenience.

“She has this sense of pride in herself that she’ll never do ji huzuri (be subservient). She’s also stubborn. If she has a goal in her mind, she’s going to keep chasing it. Not everyone likes that but that’s who she is,” he says.

She did eventually represent India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in judo’s 57kg category, but the experience too left a bitter taste. The squad had initially been sent to an international camp before being recalled amid infighting within the federation following a change in its leadership.

“There was never any concern about what was in the interest of the athletes,” she says.

Tariyal reached the bronze medal bout at Birmingham against two-time Olympian Christianne Legentil, eventually losing by a solitary point. It proved to be her last appearance for India in judo.

“In India it isn’t just about how good you are. So many other things decide whether you get to show your talent,” she says of the federation politics and the ministry visits that followed.

Chasing a podium, one sport at a time

Disillusioned but unwilling to stop, Tariyal moved to Kurash for the 2023 Asian Games. Like judo, it is a jacket-based grappling sport, and she earned her place on the Indian team through trials. But she lost in the first round and injured her knee.

Still, she wasn’t done.

“I was still looking at what other sport I could do,” she says.

She switched to fighting Jiu-Jitsu, a hybrid discipline that combines judo-based grappling with open-hand strikes and submission holds. She won the national championships before earning a chance to compete at the World Championships in Greece, where she won a world title.

Success brought its own frustration. Sponsors, she found, were reluctant to back an athlete past 30.

“Everyone wants to support young athletes. They saw that I was over 30 and they didn’t want to have anything to do with me,” she says.

Largely self-funded through her career, she has appeared on reality shows including Roadies and India’s Ultimate Warrior to raise her profile and cover costs.

“One of the challenges if you aren’t taking part in a mainstream sport is that it’s hard to get sponsors interested in you. But you still need to make money to go and train and compete. I needed to raise my profile and make money. Sport by itself doesn’t pay my bills,” she says.

Her husband knows this well too.

“At one of her first national judo competitions, Suchika had injured her hand and barely had enough money to travel. She didn’t have 50 rupees. She went on a train without a ticket. Her mindset has always been bas pahunch jaun (just let me get there),” Hooda says.

That same need to earn pulled her towards MMA, via an offer to fight for BRAVE Combat Federation after her Jiu-Jitsu world title. Lacking a striking background, she was persuaded to take the leap by UFC fighter Puja Tomar, whom she considers a sister.

“I wasn’t sure at first because I don’t have a striking background but I spoke to Puja Tomar, who I consider a sister and she told me I should go for it,” she says.

Tariyal took the leap and built a 2-1 professional record. The experience also revealed how much she enjoys the sport.

“A lot of people are excited about fighting until the first time they get hit in the face but that only gets me hyped up more! From childhood, dhakke khaye hain. (I’ve always been pushed around). I was never scared of punches. If I get punched once, I won’t stop until I hit you twice,” she says.

Then came another opportunity to compete at the Asian Games.

Standing on the podium at a multi-event Games had always been the dream.

“I’ve not had the best experiences in going through federations but it’s always been my dream to stand on the podium at a multi-event Games. I still can’t let that go,” she says.

Qualification required top-eight finishes at Asian level, sending her to two separate Asian Championships, in China and Tashkent. She won bronze both times, while still adjusting to the format.

Amateur MMA differs sharply from the professional game. Fights happen on a mat rather than in a cage. Elbow strikes to the head are banned, as are submissions such as heel hooks and knee bars. Grounded fighters get only 20 seconds to advance position before being stood back up. The bouts are shorter and, unlike professional MMA, weigh-ins happen on fight day itself, leaving less scope for drastic weight cuts.

Suchika Tariyal enters the Aichi-Nagoya Games as a medal contender on the strength of her recent results at the Asian Championships. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Learning once again

That 20-second limit cuts against her judo instincts, honed around throwing an opponent and then working patiently towards dominance. Now she has to learn to work faster.

“At the end of the day it’s fighting. I know I can fight,” she says.

For the past month, Tariyal has been training in Mumbai, figuring out the nuances of this format. It is another reminder that she is still willing to learn all over again.

Not everyone understands the choice to keep going.

“A lot of people wonder why I’m 36 and still fighting. They think after a certain age you should just go home and be with your family! But my husband supports me. He tells me I can stop when I want,” she says.

But the age question has also become part of what she wants to prove.

“I myself want to prove there isn’t an age limit to pursuing your dreams. I still beat all the new kids to get to this position. So why should I quit now?” she says.

Tariyal enters the Aichi-Nagoya Games as a medal contender on the strength of her recent results at the Asian Championships. But the medal isn’t the whole point.

“A lot of people get one chance in one sport to stand on the podium for the country. I’m getting one more. There’s something inside me that’s continuing to push me. Sometimes I wonder if I win a medal here would I still be as hungry as I am now? And I think that’s not true. I think I’ll still be fighting in some way or the other. I don’t think I can stop,” she says.