Top 10 Indian UFC Fighters of All Time — The Complete Story of India's MMA Warriors

Let's be completely honest about something that almost nobody says out loud.

India is a country of 1.4 billion people. A nation with one of the oldest and richest traditions of wrestling and martial arts on the entire planet. A country that produces world-class athletes in cricket, badminton, wrestling, and boxing. And yet — as of 2026 — the total number of Indian UFC fighters who have ever competed inside the octagon can be counted on two hands.

That number is growing. Slowly. But it is growing.

And every single Indian UFC fighter who has walked into that cage has carried something heavier than their fight kit on their shoulders — they carried the hopes and the skepticism of an entire subcontinent that was still figuring out whether MMA was even a legitimate sport.

At Spectres, we cover South Asian MMA from every angle. And this article is our most honest, most complete tribute to the Indian UFC fighters who built this foundation — brick by brick, loss by loss, win by win.

These are the top 10 Indian UFC fighters of all time. Not ranked purely by record. Ranked by what they meant. What they changed. What they opened.

1. Anshul Jubli — The King of Lions ### India's Most Decorated UFC Fighter

If you want to understand the current state of Indian UFC fighters in 2026, you start with Anshul Jubli. Not because he has the best UFC record — he does not. But because no Indian UFC fighter has meant more to the sport's growth in India in the modern era.

Born on January 13, 1995 in Bhatwari, a village near Uttarkashi in the lower Himalayas, Jubli grew up in a town that produced soldiers, not MMA fighters. His father was a retired BSF officer. He moved across India constantly as a child because of his father's postings. He started MMA the way thousands of Indian kids discovered it — watching YouTube videos and thinking, that could be me.

He joined Crosstrain Fight Club in Delhi under coach Siddharth Singh. He went 13 and 0 as an amateur. He turned professional in 2019 at Matrix Fight Night and won six straight — finishing opponents by knockout, submission, and decision. When Road to UFC Season 1 launched in 2022, Jubli was the most qualified Indian UFC prospect in the country.

He did not waste the opportunity.

He defeated South Korea's Kyung Pyo Kim by split decision in the semifinal. Then finished Indonesia's Jeka Saragih by TKO in round two in the finale — earning a 50,000 dollar Performance of the Night bonus and the first Road to UFC lightweight contract for an Indian fighter.

As an Indian UFC fighter, Jubli made his official debut at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on the same night Islam Makhachev defended his title against Alexander Volkanovski. He faced Mike Breeden — a fighter who had weighed in 3.5 pounds over the limit — and suffered his first professional loss by third-round TKO.

At UFC 312 in Sydney in February 2025 — he was knocked out in 19 seconds by Australian debutant Quillan Salkilld. One right hand. The second fastest lightweight knockout in UFC history.

Two UFC fights. Two stoppages. An Indian UFC fighter dealing with the most brutal classroom on earth.

But here is what matters about Jubli as an Indian UFC fighter — his response. He posted from the gym within days. No distractions. No delays. Straight back to the grind. He said — I have the bulletproof mind. I made it to the UFC. And he was back training at Soma Fight Club before the bruises had faded.

Anshul Jubli is the standard bearer for Indian UFC fighters in the lightweight division. His story is not over. Not even close.

**Record: 7-2-0 | UFC Record: 0-2 | Highlight Win: TKO over Jeka Saragih, Road to UFC Season 1 Finale**

2. Puja Tomar — The Cyclone ### The First Indian Woman in UFC History

No list of Indian UFC fighters is complete without acknowledging that Puja Tomar did something that no Indian woman had ever done before her.

She signed with the UFC.

Born on December 25, 1993 in Budhana, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh — a farming town that the world had never heard of — Puja Tomar became a five time national wushu champion and eventually made her way through ONE Championship, the Matrix Fight Night promotion, and ultimately into the octagon.

As an Indian UFC fighter, her debut on June 8, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky against Rayanne dos Santos was the moment Indian women's MMA had been waiting for. Three rounds. Split decision. Win. The first Indian woman to ever win inside the UFC octagon.

Her village celebrated in the streets. Firecrackers. Flower garlands. A farming family — watching their daughter make history from the other side of the world.

Her UFC record stands at 1 and 3 after subsequent losses to Shauna Bannon and Shi Ming. But as an Indian UFC fighter and pioneer, Puja Tomar opened a door that had never existed before. She is now planning to open MMA gyms across India so the next generation of Indian fighters has what she never had.

The Cyclone changed Indian MMA forever. The record does not capture that.

**Record: 9-6-0 | UFC Record: 1-3 | Highlight Win: Split Decision over Rayanne dos Santos, UFC Louisville 2024**

3. Bharat Khandare — The Pioneer ### The First India-Born Fighter to Sign With the UFC

Before Anshul Jubli. Before Puja Tomar. Before any of the Indian UFC fighters that followed — there was Bharat Khandare.

In November 2017, Bharat Khandare became the first India-born MMA fighter to sign with the UFC and step inside the octagon. That sentence deserves to sit alone for a moment.

The first. Ever.

Khandare came from a wrestling and kickboxing background and was crowned featherweight champion in India's regional promotions. He trained at Jackson-Wink in Albuquerque, New Mexico — home to some of the greatest fighters in UFC history. His debut came at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs Gastelum in Shanghai on November 25, 2017.

He faced Pingyuan Liu — a fighter with an extensive UFC record — on his first night in the organization. The result did not go his way. But the significance of that moment for Indian MMA cannot be overstated.

Every Indian UFC fighter who came after him walked through a door that Bharat Khandare opened first.

**Record: 5-3-0 | Significance: First India-born fighter in UFC history**

4. Arjan Singh Bhullar — The Mountain ### The First Indian-Origin MMA World Champion

Arjan Singh Bhullar is not technically an Indian UFC fighter in the strictest sense — he was born in Canada and competed for Canada. But his story is so deeply connected to India, to Indian wrestling culture, and to the Indian diaspora worldwide that leaving him off this list would be dishonest.

Bhullar is an Olympian. He represented Canada at the 2012 London Olympics in freestyle wrestling. He won gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. He is of Punjabi heritage and speaks the language and eats the food and carries the culture in everything he does.

As an Indian UFC fighter by heritage, Bhullar debuted in the UFC at UFC Fight Night in 2017 and built a respectable record in the heavyweight division. But his greatest achievement came after leaving the UFC — when he signed with ONE Championship and on May 15, 2021, stopped Brandon Vera by TKO in round two to become the ONE Championship Heavyweight World Champion.

The first fighter of Indian descent to win a world MMA championship at the elite level.

Arjan Bhullar said something that every fan of Indian UFC fighters should remember — he said he hoped Indian kids could see wrestling as a path not just to the Olympics but to MMA, because before him, the only alternative seemed to be WWE.

He changed that perception. Permanently.

**UFC Record: 4-0-0 | Greatest Achievement: ONE Championship Heavyweight World Champion**

5. Ritu Phogat — The Indian Tigress ### India's Most Famous Female Combat Sports Athlete

Ritu Phogat may not be an Indian UFC fighter specifically — she competed in ONE Championship — but no article about Indian combat sports can ignore the woman who brought more mainstream attention to Indian women's MMA than anyone else in history.

She is the daughter of Mahavir Singh Phogat — the man whose story became the Bollywood film Dangal, one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. She won gold at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. She turned to MMA and became one of ONE Championship's most recognizable Indian fighters.

She competed in the ONE Championship Atomweight World Grand Prix and built a record in the promotion that inspired millions of Indian girls to consider combat sports as a legitimate career path.

The conversations she started about Indian women in MMA directly led to more support, more investment, and more opportunity for the Indian UFC fighters who followed her. That is a legacy that statistics cannot measure.

**ONE Championship Record: 7-3-0 | Significance: India's most recognized female MMA fighter**

6. Angad Bisht — The Delhi Destroyer ### India's Rising Featherweight Threat

Angad Bisht is one of those Indian UFC fighters whose name you should know right now — because the rest of the world is about to.

Fighting out of Delhi, Bisht competes at featherweight and has built one of the most technically complete games of any Indian UFC fighter in the current generation. His striking combines efficiency with unpredictability — a fighter who has clearly studied the highest level of the sport and applied it with Indian discipline.

Bisht represents what the second generation of Indian UFC fighters looks like — fighters who grew up watching Khandare and Jubli and Bhullar and decided that the standard those fighters set was just the beginning.

7. Srikant Sekhar — The Silent Grinder ### India's Most Underrated Fighter

Every generation of Indian UFC fighters has a fighter who deserves more recognition than they receive. In this generation, that fighter is Srikant Sekhar.

Sekhar has competed across multiple promotions and represents the backbone of what Indian MMA actually looks like — not the glamour, not the social media, not the viral moments — but the grind. The training day after training day in facilities that are still developing. The competition against opponents from countries with decades more MMA infrastructure.

He is the kind of Indian UFC fighter whose career, when properly examined, tells the most honest story about where Indian MMA is and what it will take to reach the elite level consistently.

8. Chungreng Koren — The Indian Rhino ### The New Generation Arrives

Chungreng Koren represents something different in the history of Indian UFC fighters — he comes from the Northeast of India, a region that has been quietly producing some of the most talented combat sports athletes in the entire country for years.

Nicknamed The Indian Rhino, Koren competed at Road to UFC Season 5 in May 2026 and defeated Japan's Ryuho Miyaguchi by submission in round two — though he missed weight for the bout. His grappling in that fight was a level above anything India has produced at the Road to UFC stage before.

He is the clearest sign yet that the next wave of Indian UFC fighters is not coming from just Delhi or Mumbai or the traditional MMA hubs — it is coming from every corner of India.

9. Sascha Sharma — The TUF Representative ### India's Forgotten Connection to The Ultimate Fighter

Sascha Sharma occupies a unique place in the history of Indian UFC fighters — he is often forgotten, but should not be.

Of Indian and German heritage, Sharma appeared on The Ultimate Fighter Season 22 in 2015 as a member of Conor McGregor's team. He was defeated in his TUF bout by Chris Gruetzemacher but became notable for a moment of TUF history — McGregor's famous sideline reaction during Sharma's fight became one of the most circulated pieces of TUF footage online.

Shama may not have had the longest UFC career, but as one of the Indian UFC fighters who appeared on the most widely watched MMA reality show on the planet, his contribution to Indian MMA's global visibility should not be erased.

10. The Next Indian UFC Fighter ### The Name We Do Not Know Yet

This spot is deliberately left open. Because the most important thing about this list of Indian UFC fighters is what it represents for what comes next.

The infrastructure is being built. Puja Tomar is opening gyms. Anshul Jubli is back training. Chungreng Koren just showed the Road to UFC what Northeast India can produce. Rabindra Dhant from Nepal proved that the broader South Asian region has untapped talent at the elite level.

The tenth spot on this list belongs to the Indian UFC fighter who is training right now in a gym in Delhi or Bangalore or Kolkata or some small town nobody has heard of yet — learning to fight from YouTube videos or a local coach who believes in them — and dreaming about the octagon.

Every Indian UFC fighter on this list started exactly like that.

What This List Tells Us About Indian MMA

Look at this list of Indian UFC fighters carefully and you will notice something that every South Asian MMA fan needs to sit with.

India has produced fighters of genuine quality. Bharat Khandare broke the door open. Arjan Bhullar proved Indian-origin fighters can be world champions. Anshul Jubli showed India can produce a Road to UFC champion. Puja Tomar proved Indian women belong on the biggest stage in MMA.

But the list is still short. Brutally short for a country of 1.4 billion people.

The infrastructure gap is real. The funding gap is real. The cultural acceptance of MMA as a legitimate career in India is still developing. The number of elite level gyms is growing but is still nowhere near what countries like Brazil, Russia, or the United States have built.

But here is what gives every fan of Indian UFC fighters genuine reason for optimism — every single generation of Indian UFC fighters has been better and more prepared than the one before them.

Khandare paved the way in 2017. Jubli arrived with a Road to UFC championship in 2023. Koren showed up in 2026 with elite level grappling. The curve is steep and pointing in one direction only.

At Spectres, we will be covering every Indian UFC fighter at every step of that journey — from their first local fight to their UFC debut and beyond. Because every one of these stories deserves to be told properly.

Final Rankings at a Glance

*Spectres.pro is South Asia's first dedicated MMA media platform covering every fighter from local gyms to the UFC. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for fighter documentaries, podcasts, and fight breakdowns every week.*