Krishna Shroff has emerged as the face of Matrix Fight Night. Running the Indian MMA company is a family affair and her mother is heavily involved but it is the 30 year old whose face appears most frequently on promotional material.
She appeared on Disney Hot Star recently to discuss the challenges of running an MMA promotion in a country where cricket was king and in an industry that is ‘male dominated’.
She admits that the latter is ‘a challenge’ but says it is one which she willingly embraces,
I accept every challenge, I welcome a challenge with open arms (such as) being able to be the only woman in the world to have my own fight promotion in such a male dominated industry.
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Two decades
Matrix Fight Night was founded in 2019 by Krishna and her brother, Tiger Shroff. Her mother, Ayesha Shroff, is also heavily involved making it a family affair.
There is also a chain of Matrix MMA gyms. But Shroff says she has been a fan of the sport for a long time,
I have been (an MMA fan) for as long as I can remember. It’s been close to two decades that I’ve been following the sport.
In India all sports are dwarfed by the popularity of cricket. MMA has yet to enjoy mainstream popularity and Shroff says this has been the challenge facing Matrix Fight Night,
I think that’s been our biggest hurdle, trying to introduce such a new concept to the Indian audience. The sport is still not recognized on even an Olympic level.
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International success
Anshul Jubli won five fights out of five for Matrix Fight Night and went on to earn himself a UFC contract. He picked up a $50,000 USD bonus after winning his first fight inside the octagon earlier this year.
Shroff’s boyfriend, Abdul Azim Badakhshi, also signed up for the Road to UFC tournament. She will be hoping he can enjoy similar success to Jubli and says seeing fighters enjoy international success is what Matrix Fight Night is all about,
The goal of MFN was to give these guys a platform to showcase their skillset worldwide.
