Tag : Ayesha

New Delhi: Since its inception in 2019, Matrix Fight Night (MFN) has established itself as the biggest Mixed-Martial Arts promotion in India. With 11 editions across India and UAE, MFN has become a phenomenon and has seen some of the best MMA stars from all around the world competing for the top honours. But launching an MMA promotion in India, a cricket-loving nation, was a herculean task in itself. In the first two episodes of MFN Podcast, launched on Spotify, co-founders Krishna Shroff and Ayesha Shroff, the dynamic mother-daughter duo, opened up on the journey for the conceptualisation of the promotion and the challenges they have faced in their journey. "In 2017, MFN truly became an idea. I had been following the sport of MMA for about 20 years and for one of the weekends, I took mom along with me," Krishna recalled. "She sat there and experienced a live fight for the first time and was totally blown away. We got back and she was like, 'we have to do this because we could so much better'. I immediately jumped on board. My brother fully backed the idea and we became a dream team," she further added. Ayesha Shroff further recalled the moment when she witnessed her first live MMA fight. "Tiger had the opportunity to be a part of a MMA team. He was obligated to attend an event but he was caught up and asked me to go in his place. Watching the show, I was hooked for life. There was nothing more exciting than watching a live fight." For the Shroff family, the decision to go into the MMA route was a tough one, especially with cricket, football and kabaddi seeing massive fan engagement in the country from sporting fans. To invest in a cricket or a football franchise or a league would have been a simpler path to follow. But the rebel s ...