Owais Yaqoob, a mixed martial arts fighter from Jammu and Kashmir, is steadily emerging as one of India's brightest prospects in the sport. His latest victory at BRAVE CF 107, where he defeated Delyan Georgiev, a training and sparring partner of UFC champion Ilia Topuria, has further strengthened his credentials on the international stage.
Topuria, who is also known as "El Matador", is regarded as one of the UFC's most dominant fighters, making Yaqoob's win over one of his close training partners a notable achievement.
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Born in 1998 in the village of Murran in Pulwama district, Yaqoob began training in Taekwondo and kickboxing around 2012. His success came early, with more than a dozen national medals across various martial arts disciplines. As MMA grew in popularity, he shifted his focus to the sport with the goal of competing internationally.
Away from competition, Yaqoob has also worked to promote martial arts in his home region. In 2015, he founded the Lion's Den Martial Arts Academy in Pulwama, which has trained more than 200 young athletes and continues to provide local youth with opportunities through fitness and combat sports.
His professional MMA journey, however, did not begin with success. Yaqoob lost his debut bout via third-round submission at Matrix Fight Night (MFN) 11 in New Delhi in 2023. The defeat prompted him to improve his wrestling and ground game by training in Dagestan, Russia, a region renowned for producing champions such as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.
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The move transformed his game. Yaqoob returned with a string of victories across India, Kazakhstan and China before becoming the first fighter from Jammu and Kashmir to compete and win under BRAVE Combat Federation.
Armed with stronger wrestling and aggressive striking, Yaqoob now enters the cage looking to finish fights early. His long-term goal remains unchanged: securing a place in the UFC and representing India on MMA's biggest stage.
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