Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a rapidly growing sport in Pakistan. And a new name in Pakistan’s MMA champions is Shahid Siddique, who hails from Synergy Gym of Pakistan’s MMA Godfather Bashir Ahmad.

Shahid Siddique holds a 5-2 record and has won the Light Weight Championship belt of Big Box Promotions, Thailand.

While talking to The Nation, the new champ shared his journey stating he started MMA training around 2010 and he has had many teachers of Mixed Martial Arts.

“I started watching UFC around 2010 and slowly I became a fan of this sport. I started my training in Karachi.

“My first coaches were Gohar Gul and Awais Shah. I learnt kick-boxing and MMA from them in my early days.

“I trained in Karachi for two to three years.”

While discussing his MMA journey in Lahore, Shahid recalled that before he started training in Karachi he had come to Lahore in 2010 where he met Bashir Ahmad. He got some training and profiling during those visits.

“That's when I had my first amateur fight during which we all fought on carpet which was amazing in its own sense,” he recalled.

Shahid further told me that in 2016 he shifted to Lahore permanently and started working in Synergy.

“In Synergy we take classes and do our own training, including Bashir Ahmad, Waqar Omar, Irfan Ahmad, Usman Zulfiqar (boxing coach) and Jamil Rizvi” he said.

“The major thing is that every trainer in our gym is a fighter as he has fought in ring and octagon professionally. All of them have a good record." 

While discussing the recent fight and victory, Shahid said he came to know about this fight in late February through Rizwan Ali who is his manager.

“We came to know that there is a fight in Bangkok under banner of Big Box Promotions for a Light Weight Championship belt.

“My opponent was Thai-American and had a 4-0 record. That is why he was chosen by the promotion, because of his previous record, but it was the first title belt for both of us,” he said.

The champ further said that due to the record of his opponent, he and Bashir Ahmad worked very hard on training and fight plan.

“I started training in Synergy Gym for about a week. Then we flew to Bangkok on April 7th.

“From there we went to Chiang Mai where we trained day in, day out for fifteen days. Bashir Ahmad trained me with full focus and I was happy that we are focused on the fight. On April 24th we flew back to Bangkok and fought on 25th.

 “I knocked my opponent out in the second round with a hook."

About his future plans, Shahid Siddique said he is planning to fight either in Bahrain or Philippines.

The champ concluded the interview with the message that everyone should try Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) once in a lifetime at least.

“This is a best thing and sport in today’s sports."