Anita Karim and Pakistan’s MMA Revolution

How a fighter from Hunza spent a decade building a pathway for women’s combat sports in Pakistan

On January 13, 2026, in a makeshift cage in Islamabad, Anita Karim knocked out an Iranian opponent in the first round and claimed Pakistan’s first professional women’s mixed martial arts title. The victory was historic by any measure: the country’s first sanctioned women’s MMA bout, its first female champion, its first professional win by a Pakistani wo…