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 | 29 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 | April, 2024 |
Ritu Phogat | Body Measurements
Ritu Phogat is a lady with toned physicality and an athletic body figure. As for her appearance, she has fair skin, medium black hair, and black eyes.
She stands at the height of 1.56 meters (5 feet 1 inch) while weighing 45 kg (99 lb).
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Workout Routine
Ritu is dedicated to the field as she starts her day early in the morning at four when it comes to being in shape. She works out a total of six hours a day, three hours in the morning and the remaining three in the evening.
Ritu fuels up with skipping and running during her workout to improve her stamina and build her strength. Furthermore, she has cardio training to help her with speed and agility.
As for her high-intensity interval training, she includes burpees with cleans and deadlifts. Likewise, she spends an ample amount of time on weight lifting to strengthen, tone, and condition her muscles.
According to Ritu, she loves doing weighted squats, cleans, and deadlifts.
Diet Plan
During her tenure in India, Ritu opened up that she had a Pehlwan diet consisting of organic food, almonds, milk, and ghee. However, as she moved to Singapore, it was replaced by supplements, multivitamins, and protein powders.
Anyways, Ritu Phogat commences her day with a glass of juice and almond shake. Often, it is followed by a bowl of fruits, vegetable salad, sprouted grains, raisins, a glass of milk, and soybeans.
As for her lunch, she munches on the options of a bowl of salad, chicken, pulses, vegetables, rotis, and curd. Later, she finishes her evening snack with a glass of milk with a bowl of fresh fruits.
Altogether, she ends her day with a dinner option similar to her lunch with an added glass of milk. Apart from her supplements, Ritu feeds on seasonal fruits and milk for her pre-workout snack.
After her workout, she has soy protein, fruits, and water. Last but not least, Ritu does have cheat days at times, and on such days, she has Aloo Parathas with curd and sprouted salad.
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Ritu Phogat | Early Life
Phogat (fully named Ritu Kumari Phogat) was born on May 2, 1994, under the star sign of Taurus. Born and growing up in Balali, Haryana, India, Ritu comes from an athletic background of wrestlers.
Well, she is one of the five children of Daya Kaur and Mahavir Singh Phogat. As a matter of fact, her father, Mahavir, is also a former wrestler who later starred as a wrestling coach.
Family Background
Indeed, Mahavir is the pivotal force behind the massive success of the Phogat sisters and family. Back in the days, Mahavir was initially inspired to teach his daughters wrestling after seeing weightlifter Karnam Malleswari win the Olympics as the first Indian lady to do so.
Despite the lack of proper facilities in his village, he gave his best to his girls. Well, even Ritu’s sisters are wrestlers. Among them, Geeta and Babita enrolled in the Sports Authority of India center in Sonipat.
Furthermore, Mahavir also bought up his younger brother’s kid after his brother died. Today, Geeta, Babita, and Vinesh are gold medalists in different weight categories at the Commonwealth Games.
In the meantime, Priyanka Phogat is the silver medalist at the Asian Championships.
Childhood Days
Ritu Phogat had a trained childhood as she started learning wrestling from her father at the tender age of eight. Like every kid, she did not enjoy waking up every day at four in the morning to train, which later became a huge part of her habit.
While growing up, she opened up that Ritu quarreled with her sisters most of the time. During such time, her father would bash all sisters by saying that it takes two to quarrel.
“We would regularly fight when we were young as we had a wrestling background. Sometimes for small issues, while on a few occasions, for a serious reason as well. When dad caught us fighting like that, everyone used to get a beating because he believed that it takes two to quarrel.”
-Ritu Phogat
As she grew up, Ritu started enjoying the sport of wrestling, and she desired to take it up professionally. As a matter of fact, she only studied till the tenth grade and dropped out of school to pursue wrestling full-time.
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Ritu Phogat | Early Career
After dropping out of school, Ritu had her complete focus on wrestling and partook in several district-level and state-level wrestling competitions. All along the way, she acquired tremendous success in the competitions.
Wrestling
However, it wasn’t until 2011, Ritu started as a freestyle wrestler in the 48 kg freestyle category. Three years later, in 2014, she made her debut in the international arena. Back then, she stood for the 2014 FILA Junior World Championship held in Zagreb, Croatia.
By 2016, Ritu Phogat had bagged two consecutive titles at the annual National Wrestling Championships. In Singapore, she competed in the 48kg category and won the gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
Moving on, before the year 2016 ends, Ritu stood as the most expensive lady wrestler at the Pro Wrestling League auction. Back then, she had an INR contract of ₹36 lakh with the Jaipur Ninjas franchise.
The next year in 2017, Ritu Phogat bagged the first silver for India in championships. Well, she earned silver in the 48kg category in World U-23 Wrestling Championships located in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Mixed Martial Arts
With grits and gratitude, Ritu Phogat transitioned from wrestling to the MMA field. Since her father is a bit unknown in terms of MMA, Ritu talked with her sisters at first about her field transition.
Starting from 2019, Ritu Phogat initially signed with the ONE Championship.
ONE Championship
Back in November 2019, Ritu made her MMA debut at ONE Championship: Age Of Dragons, where she faced Nam Hee Kim. Up from the very start till today, Ritu Phogat has been driven on the MMA field with a single motive, “to be the first Indian World champion.”
Following her first match, she later fought against Nou Srey Pov on October 20, 2020. The match was held at ONE Championship: Inside the Matrix, in which she bagged the victory by TKO.
A little over a month, she yet again bagged a victory through TKO on December 4, 2020. This particular match was up against Jomary Torres at ONE Championship: Big Bang.
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.
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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)
Controversial Move Against Jenelyn Olsim
During Ritu’s last match, she was initially supposed to face Itsuki Hirata, but Hirata had to pull out because of her injury. Hence, she later fought against Jenelyn Olsim.
In the end, Ritu won the match; however, it came along with controversy. During the match in Singapore, Ritu looked like she gave an intentional forehead drive into Olsim. It is an illegal move under Asian martial arts promotion ONE’s global rule set for those unknown.
However, the referee failed to show her the yellow card, which later, she had to compensate with 10 percent of her fight purse.
If only Olsim was injured or unable to continue after Ritu’s move, she would have been shown a red card and would have been disqualified from the match.
Later, in the post-match interview, Ritu Phogat stated that she had no idea that the move was illegal in that ring.
“I wasn’t aware of it, but the minute the referee instructed me against it, I did not pursue it any further. Yes, I didn’t try it again. I respected the referee’s instructions.”
-Ritu Phogat
Ritu Phogat | Net Worth
At present, Ritu Phogat maintains a career net worth of $5 million which primarily comes from her ring career. Furthermore, she also earns a fair share of deals through her brand endorsement deals.
Recently, she signed with the sports brand Under Armour Inc. Altogether, Ritu Phogat and her family led a luxurious life in their family home in Haryana. In the meantime, she has several rides as Range Rover Vogue, Dacia Duster, and Toyota Fortuner.
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Legacy
Today, Ritu, alongside her Phogat family, stands as the inspirational pillar of India. The story has spread far and wide now, so far that they have a movie based on the very ground.
One of the top notched movies of India, Dangal, is the one based on the Phogat family. Talking a bit about the movie, it is directed by director Nitesh Tiwari. As for the cast, Amir Khan played the role of Mahavir Phogat.
Ritu Phogat | Personal Life
When it comes to the private venture of life, Ritu Phogat is pretty closed about it. To date, there is no detailed information about who she is dating and who she has dated. At present, she is single and is 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.
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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.
