LAHORE: Faizan Munir has left his life in Canada with one intention which is to promote Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in Pakistan towards the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) level. Faizan was raised in Canada but visited Pakistan quite often as he was always interested in his heritage and for the love of the country. This is where Faizan met Bashir Ahmed, Pakistan’s first international fighter to reach the biggest MMA stage in Asia ONE Championship. Bashir was introducing MMA to Pakistan and created an NGO called Shaheen Academy, which is for underprivileged children to get educated and learn Mixed Martial Arts for free. Faizan was one of Bashir’s first students to learn mixed martial arts, as Faizan had a lot of interest in Muay Thai and Jiu-jitsu which Bashir would teach.
Dr Munir Ahmad, Faizan’s father is a successful dentist and one of the first Pakistanis to set up practices in Qatar, where Faizan was born, and in Canada. His father has always been one of his biggest inspirations for his self-made work attitude. With Faizan’s mindset of wanting to explore new cultures, he decided to study medicine in Wenzhou, China. After two years, Faizan discussed with his father that dental was something he was not interested in as a career and that he wanted to pursue business. This had Faizan going to Dubai’s Heriot-Watt University. For his final year he chose to go to Heriot-Watt’s main campus located at Edinburgh, Scotland, where he graduated with a Master’s degree in International Business Management with marketing and gained working experience in United Kingdom.
He then decided to settle in Pakistan with the main focus towards the growth of Mixed Martial Arts. He decided to open his first MMA Gym called “HIIT GYM & MMA”. He started off with first floor in a plaza located at Phase 8 DHA Lahore. With the help and experience of Bashir Ahmed, Faizan was able to do this successfully. They both decided they didn’t want this to be a typical MMA Gym for advanced fighters only, so they created programs where beginners could train without getting hurt. Hence the name “HIIT” as it is for high intensity interval training with MMA. Faizan realized that there were a lot of services missing in Pakistan related to health. He then decided to expand his gym to the entire plaza, introducing medical services, strength rooms, cardio rooms, dental, MMA, sauna and steam rooms. The gym was ready in the holy month of Ramadan: April 2022.
At the end of May 2022, Faizan travelled to Thailand to meet Bashir Ahmed, to discuss further growth of MMA in Pakistan and to learn firsthand how a country like Thailand has had so much popularity in combat sports. Faizan met the owners of Fairtex Promotions and Venum Promotions and learned more about the sport and how events are organised. Faizan was also backstage supporting Anita Karim for her fight against Uyen Ha from Australia.
He learned a lot from Uloomi and Anita and they were both happy someone like Faizan was getting seriously involved with MMA as it would benefit Pakistan. In the middle of August 2022, Faizan decided with one of his friends Mohsin Shah, that they should introduce a new MMA platform for events in Pakistan. They named it Proving Ground Series, which is not limited to Mixed Martial Arts but also introduces fitness challenges such as most burpees, longest plank, most push ups and etc.
27th August 2022 was when Proving Ground Series officially took place. Celebrity guests such as Ahmed Ali Butt, Irfan Ahson, Marhoom Ahmad Butt etc were all present at the event. This was Pakistan’s first and biggest non-profit charity event for fitness and MMA, which was also the first broadcasted live event ever on Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan. Within two weeks the event was planned and organised. This has given a new opportunity to athletes all over Pakistan to compete and for viewers to enjoy a new source of entertainment. Faizan’s plans are to continue the Proving Ground Series. With his next being a promotional event. He wants the athletes getting paid and gaining recognition that they deserve. He believes Pakistan is filled with a lot of hidden talent but the focus is only towards cricket. In a short period of time, he has accomplished more for the sport than what was expected.