By Prakash Nair 
Greater Noida, May 3: There is a moment in every fight where you can tell which way it is going to go. Not from the scorecards, not from the commentators, but from the body language of the person getting hit. By the time Sonam Zomba locked in that armbar in the third round on Saturday night, Maristela Alves already knew it was over.
The 27-year-old from Arunachal Pradesh retained her MFN Women’s Straw weight World Title at Matrix Fight Night 18, submitting the Brazilian challenger at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Indoor Sports Complex in Greater Noida. Clean finish. Second title defence. Seven wins in a row since 2022. The numbers are good. The story behind them is better.
She Left And Came Back Stronger
Zomba started her professional MMA career in 2018 with a loss. A first-round TKO against Kiran Singh, not the debut anyone wants. Then she disappeared for four years. No fights, no circuit presence, nothing. A lot of fighters who take that kind of break never really return, not competitively at least. Zomba did, and since stepping back into the octagon in 2022, she has not dropped a single fight.
Seven consecutive wins. Stoppage victories, dominant decisions, a ground-and-pound finish over Shiyin Tan in February last year. She won the vacant strawweight title at MFN 17 with a unanimous decision over Russia’s Anna Safeeva, and on Saturday she made it two defences in a row. Her record now sits at 7-1 and she is ranked first in the Asia South women’s division, according to Tapology rankings.
That kind of run, built after a four-year absence, does not happen by accident. It reflects something deliberate about how she has rebuilt herself as a fighter.
What Actually Happened In The Cage
Alves was not an easy fight on paper. She came in at 7-4 with an aggressive striking game and a physical reach advantage she was not shy about using. The opening rounds were scrappy in the way international MMA bouts at this level tend to be, with Alves trying to set the pace and Zomba refusing to let her.
Zomba trains under coach Bhawajit Choudhury at Bidang MMA and Fitness Gym in Assam. The grappling foundation she has built there showed up clearly on Saturday. She stayed composed in the clinch, took the edge off Alves’ striking by getting inside early, and controlled the tempo round by round without ever looking like she was scrambling.
By the third round, that patience had done its job. Zomba secured the takedown, worked through position, and sank the armbar. Alves tapped. It was the kind of finish you get from someone who has fought enough to know when the moment arrives and has the technique to capitalise on it without hesitation.
Clean. Efficient. Earned.
The Chief Minister Noticed
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu was on X on Sunday morning. He posted a video of Zomba after her victory and wrote that she “has once again made history, becoming a proud symbol of excellence from Arunachal Pradesh and a true inspiration for young athletes across India and beyond.” According to ANI, he also described her journey as reflecting “the power of perseverance and the spirit of breaking barriers.”
Political congratulations after sporting wins are routine. They often feel like routine too. This one landed slightly differently, partly because women in MMA, particularly from the northeastern states, rarely get that kind of direct public acknowledgment from state leadership. It does not fix anything structural, but it signals something.
As it turns out, though, the structural gaps are real. Zomba is from Arunachal Pradesh but trains in Assam because that is where the coaching and infrastructure exist to support a fighter competing at her level. That detail got noticed by people following the story online, and it probably should. An athlete ranked first in her region should not have to leave her home state just to find a decent training environment. Praise is welcome. Facilities would be better.
What MFN Has Built, And Why It Matters Here
Matrix Fight Night was started in 2019 by the Shroff family. Tiger Shroff, his mother Ayesha, and his sister Krishna built the promotion from scratch with the stated aim of developing MMA talent across South and Southeast Asia. As reported by Wikipedia, it has already produced fighters who went on to sign with the UFC, Anshul Jubli and Puja Tomar among them.
MFN 18 was one of their bigger cards. Thirteen bouts, two title fights, international challengers, broadcast live on JioHotstar for fans in India and on YouTube globally. Alongside Zomba’s main event, Digamber Singh Rawat fought Angga of Indonesia for the vacant lightweight title in the co-main. The depth of the card reflected how far the promotion has come from its early editions.
Krishna Shroff, speaking to Filmibeat ahead of the event, described MFN 18 as a continuation of everything the promotion has worked toward since its founding, structured development, international competition, and a pipeline designed to find fighters from parts of India that mainstream sports coverage tends to miss. The northeast features prominently in that vision. Zomba is living proof that the model works, at least in part.
A Larger Argument Being Made, Whether Or Not Anyone Is Listening
Women’s MMA in India is still operating without the institutional backing it needs. No serious national-level support structure, limited media coverage, almost no sponsorship ecosystem for athletes outside the very top of the domestic game. The fighters making it work are doing so largely on their own terms, through personal commitment and whatever regional support they can access.
Zomba’s seven-fight winning streak and back-to-back title defences make the argument for investment better than any formal proposal could. She is ranked across the Asia Pacific region. She is finishing internationally experienced opponents. She is doing it from a training base in Assam, away from home, with far less structural support than fighters in comparable positions get in other countries.
Whether that changes anytime soon is genuinely unclear. Indian combat sports have a complicated relationship with government support and corporate sponsorship. The UFC pipeline that MFN has helped establish gives fighters a visible ceiling to aim for, but the floor, the day-to-day training support, the financial stability, the local infrastructure, remains thin.
Still. None of that takes away from Saturday night. Zomba went in as champion, faced a legitimate international challenger, and came out with the belt and a third-round submission finish. She is 7-1, unbeaten in four years, and showing no signs of slowing down.
For a fighter from Arunachal Pradesh who lost her debut and spent four years away from the sport, that is not just a good record. That is a statement.
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Sports reporter covering cricket, football, and Olympic disciplines, with on-ground event experience.
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
