As Squamish MMA fighter Indroop Virk stepped into the cage for his latest fight, his mind was clearer than it had ever been during a BFL competition.
“This was honestly the calmest I’ve ever been going into a fight,” said Virk.
“I wasn’t nervous or anything. I could actually think properly. Usually I’m pretty nervous — all tensed up and stuff.”
Virk suggested his peace of mind came from a sense of confidence that he gained after fighting multiple events in front of big audiences.
On Nov. 17, during Battlefield Fight League 58, the 20-year-old athlete was able to win over Francis Tiapis.
It was a unanimous decision made after the pair battled at the Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam.
As of now, Virk is the interim amateur flyweight champion of the BFL.
Virk was originally supposed to fight against the reigning champion, Dion Wu, but Wu was sidelined by an injury — hence the interim title.
The two fighters are expected to battle next year.
However, Virk said his victory over Tiapis was decisive.
“Basically, every round I would just push him up against the wall, hold him there for a couple seconds, take him down, beat him up,” said Virk.
“I was beating him standing up too. All he had was the overhand right, and he was missing by a mile.”
Indeed, the judge’s scorecards seemed to suggest a dominating performance from Virk.
The points added up strongly in his favour, with the final tallies being 50-43, 50-41 and 50-43 — all of them declaring him the winner.
Virk said that he had no problems during the fight, which he said was one-sided.
However, there was one big challenge he faced — and that was before the battle.
It was making a massive weight cut.
Virk normally weighs around 150 pounds but had to shed a lot of weight in order to qualify for the 125-pound flyweight division.
“This was my first flyweight weight cut,” he said.
“That was a huge weight cut.”
That was the price to his strategy.
The idea was to fight at a weight significantly below what he normally measures on the scale.
This would give him an advantage on the day of the fight, as he would presumably be bigger.
But the downside was that he had to shed a lot of pounds to qualify at the weigh-in.
“That was probably like the hardest weight cut I ever had,” Virk said.
He also spent time bouncing around several fight camps to train for the event, including his home base in Squamish, The Sound.
Virk’s preparations paid off.
“The whole fight was just like a beat down,” he said. Virk said this was especially the case in fifth round, which is when he was able to get a mount on his opponent. When the bell rang, a thought sprang into Virk’s mind.
“It was a great feeling — knowing I’m going to get the belt now.” he said.
