Young and talented, Ritu Phogat is the charm of India. She is an accomplished MMA fighter and a former freestyle wrestler currently signed with the ONE Championship.
Commencing her career option at a tender age, Ritu has never looked back following it. Not to mention, she has self-driven her life by starting her days with a dose of motivation. As we dive deep into her life, it is known that she comes from a family of wrestlers.
But before we dive right into her life, let us get through a quick dose of her facts.
Quick Facts
Full Name | Ritu Kumari Phogat |
Date of Birth | May 2, 1994 |
Birth Place | Balali, Haryana, India |
Nick Name | The Indian Tigress |
Religion | Hindu |
Nationality | Indian |
Ethnicity | Asian |
Zodiac Sign | Taurus |
Age | 28 Years Old |
Height | 1.56 meters (5 feet 1 inch) |
Weight | 45 kg (99 lb) |
Hair Color | Black |
Eye Color | Black |
Build | Athletic |
Father’s Name | Mahavir Singh Phogat |
Mother’s Name | Daya Kaur |
Siblings |
Three sisters; Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari Phogat, and Sangita Phogat
A brother, Dushyant Phogat |
Academic Qualification | 10th Standard |
Marital Status | Unmarried |
Boyfriend | None |
Kids | None |
Profession | Mixed Martial Artist Former freestyle wrestler |
Event | 48 kg |
Division | Atomweight |
Coached by | Mahavir Singh Phogat |
Affiliation | Evolve MMA (2019–present) |
Net Worth | $5 million |
Social Media | Instagram, Twitter |
Last Update | July, 2022 |
Ritu Phogat | Physical Description
Ritu Phogat is a beautiful woman with an athletic body type and toned physically. Her features include fair skin, medium-length black hair, and black eyes.
She weighs 45 kilograms and has a height of 1.56 meters (5 feet 1 inch) (99 lb).
Exercise Routine
Ritu is committed to the field since, in order to stay in shape, she rises at four in the morning. Six hours a day, three in the morning and the other three in the evening, are spent working out for her.
During her workout, Ritu refuels by skipping and sprinting to increase her strength and stamina. She also participates in cardio exercises to improve her agility and speed.
And She incorporates burpees into her high-intensity interval training along with cleans and deadlifts. She also spends a lot of time lifting weights to build up, tone, and condition her muscles.
Ritu claims that she enjoys performing weighted deadlifts, cleans, and squats.
Food menu
Ritu revealed during her time in India that she followed the Pehlwan diet, which included organic cuisine, almonds, milk, and ghee. However, when she relocated to Singapore, protein powders, multivitamins, and supplements took its place.
Ritu Phogat starts her day off with a juice and almond shake, however. Frequently, it is followed by a serving of fruits, a salad of vegetables, sprouted grains, raisins, milk, and soybeans.
She chooses from a variety of lunch options, including a bowl of salad, chicken, lentils, vegetables, rotis, and curd. Her evening snack is afterwards completed with a glass of milk and a bowl of fresh fruit.
She concludes her day with a supper option that is comparable to her lunch, plus a glass of milk. Ritu consumes milk and seasonal fruits as part of her pre-workout diet in addition to supplements.
She consumes soy protein, bananas, and water after working out. Finally, Ritu does occasionally indulge, and on those occasions, she eats Aloo Parathas with curd and sprouts salad.
Childhood
Ritu Kumari Phogat, who goes by the name Phogat, was born as a Taurus on May 2, 1994. Ritu was raised by wrestlers in Balali, Haryana, India, where she was born and raised.
She is one of Daya Kaur and Mahavir Singh Phogat’s five children, after all. In actuality, Mahavir, her father, was also a wrestler in the past and has since gained notoriety as a wrestling instructor.
Family History
Mahavir is undoubtedly a key factor in the Phogat sisters’ and family’s enormous prosperity. Mahavir was initially motivated to teach his daughters wrestling after witnessing weightlifter Karnam Malleswari become the first Indian woman to win the Olympics back in the day.
He gave his girls his all despite his village’s lack of adequate amenities. Even Ritu’s sisters are wrestlers, so there. Geeta and Babita signed up for classes at the Sports Authority of India facility in Sonipat among them.
Mahavir also adopted his younger brother’s child after his sibling passed away. Geeta, Babita, and Vinesh won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games today in various weight categories.
Priyanka Phogat won the silver medal at the Asian Championships in the interim.
Days of Childhood
Ritu Phogat had a disciplined upbringing because her father taught her how to wrestle when she was just eight years old. She did not enjoy getting up every day at four in the morning to practice; yet, this eventually turned into a significant part of her lifestyle.
She revealed that Ritu frequently fought with her sisters as she was growing up. When this happened, her father would disparage all of her sisters by asserting that it takes two people to fight.
“Because we had a wrestling background, we used to fight frequently when we were kids. For both minor problems and more significant ones on rare instances. Dad used to beat us all when he saw us fighting like that because he thought that it took two to fight.
— Ritu Phogat
As Ritu grew older, she began to take an interest in wrestling and wanted to pursue it professionally. She actually only completed the ninth grade before quitting school to devote her full attention to wrestling.
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Ritu Phogat | Young Professional
Ritu had her sole emphasis on wrestling after quitting school, and she took part in multiple district- and state-level wrestling championships. She had outstanding success in the competitions all the while.
Wrestling
Ritu didn’t debut as a freestyle wrestler in the 48 kg freestyle division until 2011, though. She made her debut in the international ring three years later, in 2014. She then ran for the Croatian city of Zagreb’s 2014 FILA Junior World Championship.
Ritu Phogat won two National Wrestling Championship championships in a row by the year 2016. She competed in the 48kg division in Singapore and took first place in the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
Moving on, Ritu was the most expensive female wrestler at the Pro Wrestling League auction before the year 2016 came to a conclusion. She had a 36 lakh INR deal with the Jaipur Ninjas brand at the time.
Ritu Phogat won the first silver medal for India in a competition the following year, in 2017. She did, however, win silver in the 48 kg division at the Polish city of Bydgoszcz’s World U-23 Wrestling Championships.
Martial arts mixed
Ritu Phogat made the switch from wrestling to MMA with grit and thanks. She initially discussed her field change with her sisters because her father is somewhat obscure in the world of mixed martial arts.
Ritu Phogat inked a contract with the ONE Championship to begin in 2019.
Championship of ONE
Ritu competed against Nam Hee Kim in her MMA debut at ONE Championship: Age Of Dragons back in November 2019. Ritu Phogat has been driven in the MMA field from the very beginning with the solitary goal of “becoming the first Indian World champion.”
After her debut fight, she later competed on October 20, 2020, against Nou Srey Pov. She won the fight by technical knockout at ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix.
On December 4, 2020, she once more won by TKO after a little over a month. At ONE Championship: Big Bang, Jomary Torres was the opponent in this specific match.
As for her fights and matches in the year 2021, you should check the list maintained below.
- May 15, 2021 (ONE Championship: Dangal against Bi Nguyen): First MMA loss by split decision
- May 28, 2021 (2021 ONE Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix at ONE Championship: Empower against Meng Bo): loss by split decision
- July 30, 2021 (ONE Championship: Battleground against Lin Heqin): win by unanimous decision
- September 3, 2021 (quarterfinal of Atomweight World Grand-Prix at ONE Championship: Empower against Meng Bo): win by unanimous decision
- October 29, 2021 (semi-final of ONE Women’s Atomweight Grand Prix at ONE Championship: Next Generation against Jenelyn Olsim): win by unanimous decision.
Ritu Phogat | Achievements
No doubt, Ritu Phogat is one of the top-tier female fighters thriving rapidly on the MMA field.
Ritu, the Indian Tigress, has garnered and stumbled several events in her life, and today, she stands out for all the ladies worldwide while tipping for self-defense mechanisms.
In short, Ritu asks everyone to have the foundation knowledge of fights, skills, and self-defense. As learning never hurts, she also adds to practice them and refine the skills while in the gym.
Anyways, some of her titles and achievements throughout her journey are listed below.
- Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in 2016 Singapore (gold medal)
- Asian Championships in 2017 New Delhi (bronze medal)
- World U23 Championships in 2017 Bydgoszcz (silver medal)
Unpopular action taken against Jenelyn Olsim
Itsuki Hirata was meant to be Ritu’s opponent in her most recent match, however Hirata had to withdraw due to an injury. So she later engaged in combat with Jenelyn Olsim.
Ritu ultimately prevailed, but it wasn’t without controversy. Ritu appeared to intentionally forehead drive Olsim during the match in Singapore. Under Asian martial arts promotion, it is an impermissible maneuver. ONE’s universal set of laws for unknowable people.
However, the referee did not give her a yellow card, for which she later had to pay 10% of the fight’s proceeds.
Ritu would have received a red card and been eliminated from the game had Olsim been hurt or unable to continue after Ritu’s move.
Ritu Phogat later admitted during the post-match interview that she was unaware that the move was forbidden in that ring.
“I wasn’t conscious of it, but as soon as the referee warned me against it, I stopped trying to do it. Yes, I gave up on trying again. I complied with the referee’s directives.
— Ritu Phogat
Salary
Ritu Phogat now has a career net worth of $5 million, the majority of which comes from her work in the ring. She also receives a decent amount of deals from her brand endorsement contracts.
She just signed with the athletic clothing company Under Armour Inc. Ritu Phogat and her family lived a lavish lifestyle at their Haryana house overall. She now owns a number of vehicles, including the Toyota Fortuner, Dacia Duster, and Range Rover Vogue.
Legacy
Together with her Phogat family, Ritu represents India’s inspirational cornerstone today. Now that the story has become well known, a movie based on it already exists.
The Phogat family is the subject of Dangal, one of India’s best films. Let’s talk a little bit about the movie. Nitesh Tiwari is the director. Mahavir Phogat was portrayed by Amir Khan in the cast.
Personal Life of Ritu Phogat
Ritu Phogat is relatively quiet when it comes to her private life. She hasn’t given any specifics regarding her current and past relationships. She is currently single and not dating anyone.
Social Media
If you are interested in Ritu Phogat’s personal uploads and posts, check out her social media pages. She is on Instagram as The Indian Tigress (@rituphogat48) with 422k followers.
Similarly, she is on Twitter as Ritu Phogat (@PhogatRitu) with 217.9k followers.
Ritu Phogat | FAQs
What is Ritu Phogat’s career statistic like?
Fighting out of Singapore, Ritu Phogat has fought eight matches in the MMA to date. Among them, she has won seven of them (three by knockout and four by decision) and lost a single match by decision.