LAHORE: On the sidelines of the Pakistan Open MMA Championship on Friday, Omar Ahmed, the president of the Pakistan Mixed Martial Arts Federation, outlined an ambitious vision to establish Mixed Martial Arts as a premier sports property in the country, while detailing the significant systemic hurdles that stand in its way.

A former kickboxer, Omar spoke candidly about the challenge of attracting advertisers in a market dominated primarily by the game of cricket.

“Our purpose is to create a sport property in Pakistan,” Omar told Dawn. “At the moment, Pakistan Super League [PSL] is the only sports property of Pakistan. When we pitch advertisers, they are most of the time sceptical.”

He elaborated that this scepticism is not extended to the PSL, which advertisers consider an unrivalled platform. Omar contrasted this with nations like the United States, which boasts multiple successful leagues like the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

“This ensures that advertising [is] distributed fairly enough,” he stated.

Omar, who is also the director of the World Talent Agency for South Asia, warned of the risks of a mono-sports culture.

“With the major part of the budget only allocated towards cricket, and you still somehow fail to produce results, you become a one-trick pony,” he noted.

He stressed that it is a necessity for the nation’s sporting health to spotlight other sports, which in the next five to ten years could produce commercial returns similar to cricket. In his view, MMA has that very potential.

“We have done a lot of working and there is a high likelihood that MMA will be one of the biggest sports of Pakistan,” said Omar, who also leads a mental health charity.

He pointed to the international success of Pakistani fighters as a key differentiator from other sports.

“Most successful sports have professional leagues. Most of Pakistani athletes don’t compete at the highest level in other sports. But our national MMA fighters successfully compete in top MMA events around the world. They make good money in these competitions,” Omar informed.

He cited the example of Ismail Khan, a Rawalpindi-born flyweight fighter ranked 37 in the Middle East and Africa, who has nine wins and only one loss.

Despite being a relatively new sport in the country, Omar highlighted its proven pull. He pointed to the IMMAF Asian Championship, which Pakistan hosted last year.

“The event had 300 athletes from 18 countries. The event was broadcast in 140 countries with commentary in 20 different languages. It accumulated almost 50 million views,” he said, calling the mission to elevate MMA a “silent revolution.”

Beyond the numbers, Omar sees a deeper social value in the sport.

“This sport has a link with the social chain which teaches you self-control and discipline. It is not about violence, it is about where you stand in your life.”

This message, he claims, resonates powerfully with the younger generation.

“The young generation can relate more to someone like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] than to Babar Azam,” Omar claimed.

Reflecting on his own journey, Omar revealed his entry into the sport was unexpected.

“Back in the day, there were only a handful of MMA gyms in Lahore. I opened my own gym. Some kids joined our gym who later competed in an IMMAF competition, where almost a thousand athletes were competing; one of our students won a medal. That kid was Ismail. That personally inspired me to start this whole journey.”

Despite the upsides and potential, Omar bemoaned the structural flaws within Pakistan’s sports federation system that actively hinder growth.

“The whole structure of the federations in Pakistan is flawed,” he revealed. “If someone wants to form a federation, they need to have at least one person in every district, even though that sport doesn’t even exist in that district.”

This system, he argued, leads to the deserving getting robbed of opportunities.

“Deserving athletes get robbed of the opportunities because the vote holder wants to send someone of his own liking. This is one of the major reasons we don’t compete at the top level in any other sports.”

He concluded on a stark note, stating that despite their success, they have never received any government support. “They have only created hurdles in the progress.”

However, Omar noted a significant shift in perspective from the Punjab government. He revealed that the upcoming ‘Pakistan Combat Night’ is fully funded and sponsored by the Punjab government, which now sees MMA as the number one choice of the youth and a sport they can resonate with, especially due to the presence of female champions.

“The Sports Minister Punjab is also a young guy who did combat sports while studying in Canada and is a keen follower of UFC,” Omar added. “He wants to collaborate with the Pakistan MMA Federation and host world-class events. His vision is to make Punjab the sports capital of Pakistan.”

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2025