UFC announces first-ever Indian athlete invitation for fifth Academy Combine

UFC has announced the fifth UFC Academy Combine, the invite-only talent evaluation platform, from March 21-22. It will take place at the UFC Performance Institute (PI) in Shanghai, China.

The event invites top MMA prospects to showcase their technical skills and physical ability to be considered for a full scholarship to the UFC Academy. Approximately 25 to 30 athletes have been selected from each UFC Academy Combine, with eight having signed contracts to join UFC: Rong Zhu, Aoriqileng, Sha Yilan, Alatengheili, Liang Na, Maheshate, Zhang Mingyang, and Yizha.

The fifth UFC Academy Combine has invited approximately 40 athletes and will be the first Combine where athletes from India, Indonesia, and Singapore will participate. It is the first time Indian athletes will be participating in the event.

The following are the participants from India:

1. Clinton Kenin D'Cruz, flyweight

2. Roshan Mainam, flyweight

3. Sumit Kumar, flyweight

4. Punyajit Likharu, bantamweight

The athletes are tested on 72 individual metrics across 12 categories covering technical skill (wrestling, grappling, and striking) with physical ability (explosive lower and upper body power, maximum strength, anaerobic power, anaerobic capacity, reaction time, and aerobic recoverability).

A proprietary scoring system will be utilized so that clear comparisons can be made between individual fighters, ultimately leading to an overall UFC Academy Combine ranking for each athlete.

Those who have been chosen to receive scholarships to UFC Academy will be announced after the event.

Highlights during the Combine will be posted on the @UFCIndia Instagram account.

About UFC Performance Institute

The UFC Performance Institute is the world’s first mixed martial arts multi-disciplinary research, innovation, and performance center. The first location, opened in Las Vegas in 2017, is a state-of-the-art, 30,000-square-foot facility that provides benefits and services to all athletes competing under its banner.

The Performance Institute is equipped with a full-time staff of experts in the fields of strength and conditioning, nutrition, and physical therapy, with a designed focus on providing athletes with world-class performance optimization.

To date, more than 600 athletes from the promotion's roster have utilized the facility and the services provided remotely. In addition, several dozen NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and Olympic sports athletes have visited the facility for support during their off-season training.

In 2019, the promotion opened a second Performance Institute in Shanghai, now the world’s largest, state-of-the-art MMA training and development facility. Nearly three times as large as the Las Vegas facility, the 93,000-square-foot facility in Shanghai serves as a training hub to develop and support the next generation of MMA athletes from mainland China and the greater Asia-Pacific region.

In 2021, the Performance Institute unveiled its second and most comprehensive study of the sport of MMA entitled “A Cross-Sectional Performance Analysis and Projection of the UFC Athlete Volume 2. Since its inception in 2017, the Performance Institute has amassed over 1.2 million performance metrics and data points and uses this extensive body of data to inform the best approach to train and prepare for MMA competition.

For more information on the UFC Performance Institute, please visit ufc.com/performance-institute