Suchika Tariyal eyes Asian Games 2026 podium in MMA

NEW DELHI, SEP 16 (NPN): India’s versatile combat sports athlete Suchika Tariyal is aiming for a podium finish at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, where Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) will make its Asian Games debut.
The 36-year-old Rohtak native, who is supported by the Sports Ministry’s Target Asian Games Group (TAGG) scheme, will compete in the traditional 60 kg category. She enters the competition with strong recent form, having won back-to-back bronze medals at the Asian MMA Championships in January and May this year.
The upcoming Games will mark Tariyal’s second Asian Games appearance. At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, she represented India in kurash, a jacket-and-belt wrestling discipline in which competitors seek to throw their opponents onto their backs. Tariyal said her Hangzhou campaign had not gone as planned, attributing it partly to the limited popularity of kurash in India and inadequate preparation at the time. She described the 2026 Games as a second opportunity to compete at the Asian Games and said she was now fully prepared for MMA. Tariyal’s journey in combat sports began with judo after an eve-teasing incident when she was 12 prompted her to take up the sport for self-defence. She subsequently moved into Ju-Jitsu before taking up MMA in 2017. Her early training included sessions at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Dada Dev Mandir Centre in Palam, followed by further training at SAI Bhopal.
She went on to establish herself as an international-level judoka, representing India in more than 20 international competitions. An eight-time national judo champion, Tariyal won gold at the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships and the 2019 South Asian Games, besides securing silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Judo Championships.
She also represented India at multiple Asian Judo Championships and competed in the women’s -57 kg category at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she narrowly missed out on a podium finish.
Expanding her career into Ju-Jitsu, Tariyal achieved another major milestone in 2024 by winning gold in the Adults Ju-Jitsu Contact Female -63 kg category at the JJIF Ju-Jitsu World Championships. Her achievements in judo and Ju-Jitsu subsequently provided the foundation for her transition into MMA.
Tariyal made her MMA debut with a victory in 2017, but took a seven-year break from the sport while continuing to compete successfully in judo and Ju-Jitsu. In November 2024, she signed a multi-fight contract with BRAVE Combat Federation in the Women’s Strawweight division and returned to professional MMA at BRAVE CF 92 in Bahrain in December 2024, securing a victory.
Tariyal has credited her judo background with giving her a strong foundation in ground fighting and grappling, while she had to develop her standing game and striking skills after moving into MMA. She described MMA as the ultimate level of combat sports because it tests an athlete’s all-round abilities and requires fighters to become complete combat athletes.
Her success across multiple combat disciplines has also brought considerable public recognition. She has more than 300,000 followers on Instagram and has been honoured by the President and Prime Minister of India for representing the country at four world championships and more than 30 international meets. She has also appeared on popular television and streaming programmes, including MTV Roadies and Prime Video’s India’s Ultimate Warrior.
Tariyal has said she hopes her journey will encourage more young women to take up MMA and other combat sports, particularly for self-defence. She has stressed the need for parents to support children who want to pursue combat sports and maintained that women can excel in MMA through their mental strength, focus and ability to endure physical challenges.
For the Asian Games, Tariyal expects a highly competitive field and has been training under coach Nikhil Kunder at One Punch Academy in Andheri, Mumbai. She said she was not putting pressure on herself by thinking about the result or expectations, instead focusing on giving her best for India. She added that winning a medal at the Asian Games would represent the ultimate achievement for any fighter.