Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Shahzaib Rindh made history when he won the Karate Combat Championship (KC-49) in Singapore on Wednesday, becoming the first-ever world champion from Pakistan.

He defeated Brazil’s Bruno Roberto De Assis in the final, according to Karate Combat, which describes itself as the “world’s premier full contact striking league”.

Mixed martial arts is a full-contact combat sport that includes striking, grappling, and ground fighting. MMA incorporates techniques from various combat sports from around the world.

Commenting on his win, the 26-year-old from Balochistan said it was a “dream come true” in a post on X with a photo of him and the championship belt.

In another post on X featuring a video of himself, the six-time national champion said: “Alhamdulillah, history has been made! This is the first time Pakistan has become a world champion in MMA. This was a very tough fight at the start, but I had this hope, as well as all your prayers.

“I didn’t accept defeat and fought till the end and became world champion for Pakistan.”

In a post on Instagram, he said, “It has been a long and challenging journey, but we did it.”

He thanked several people for helping him reach this point, including his coach, manager, family, and team.

Earlier in April, Rindh had lamented that it was the government’s “bad luck” that it did not support its country’s heroes after his 2-1 victory over India at Dubai’s Karate Combat 45 event.

“If our heroes are supported accordingly, they can become role models for our youth,” he had said, adding that the youth would get motivated when they saw their role models getting appreciated and supported.

“They will also be motivated and join sports,” he said.

Rindh had said then that his next target was to become world champion, for which he had already begun training.