Bharat Khandare set to become UFC’s first India-born fighter

Bharat Khandare is set to become first Indian-born to play in UFC. (Source: JacksonWinkMMA Twitter)

Earlier this year Arjan Singh Bhullar became the first Indian to sign up in the UFC. And now, Bharat Khandare is all set to be the first Indian-born Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter in the UFC.

The 28-year old was first approached by UFC three years back but the deal did not go through because of his prior commitments. He will now have his debut fight against Pingyuan Liu, who has won 12 fights in the tournament, in the UFC Bantamweight division at the UFC Fight Night in Shanghai on November 25.

Liu will look confident ahead of the bout, having lost only four UFC matches, against the Maharashtrian. Khandare’s last match was against in April at the Brave 5 event in Mumbai against Ahmed Faress in a high-profile Bantamweight showdown where he suffered a first-round defeat.

Welcome to the UFC, Bharat Khandare??????

— UFC India (@UFCIndia) 11 November 2017

“It is a dream for every fighter in the world to get an opportunity like this to compete at UFC”, Bharat’s manager Somesh Kamra has been quoted as saying.

According to thefangarage.com, Bharat was introduced to Mixed Martial Arts through the Internet. He had a wrestling background and soon, he took up kickboxing in a gym near his home.