Coach Confident India’s Anshul Jubli Will Come Back Stronger After First Career Loss

While some wonder how Anshul Jubli will cope with his lone career setback, his coach, Siddharth Singh, is confident that “King of Lions” will come back with a vengeance as he has done in the past.

Jubli put India on the world mixed martial arts map by winning the first Road to UFC tournament in the lightweight category last year. The then undefeated prospect then took on Mike Breeden at UFC 294 in October last year, suffering a third-round technical knockout loss after winning the first two rounds on the scorecards.

This marked the first setback for Jubli including his amateur career, leading to some speculations about how it could affect his mindset. However, coach Singh has seen Jubli lose before and cope incredibly well with it.

Singh, the head coach and owner of Crosstrain Fight Club in New Delhi, is confident that Jubli will be hungrier and more complete upon on his return to the Octagon.

“Yeah, it's, it's been an experience, to be honest. It was the first time for all of us,” Singh said in an interview with Sherdog’s David Andrew. “Getting the UFC call, was the first time ever. The tournament was the first time ever. And again, we went into the UFC knowing that we would face defeat for the first time ever. I mean, that's just being a realist.

“And the way the fight went, to be honest, we thought we had everything under control. We won the first two rounds. We were looking strong going into the third. So yeah, it was, it was a little bit of a disappointment, what happened in the third round but that's fighting, that is life, things happen. So having said that Anshul has come back very hungry, he was training here earlier, you saw. He's very hungry. He's very dedicated. He's very motivated. He wants to bounce back and I'm very confident, the kind of person he is, the kind of fighter he is, when you see him back in the cage, you will see him at his best.

“Yeah, I mean, you're right. He has never lost at the amateur level. He never lost in the pros, but he has lost, he's lost a lot in the gym. He lost at a local jiu-jitsu tournament. I'll tell you what, every time he loses. And everyone's been making a big thing about it that, 'Oh, he's going to lose. He's not going to come back.' I remember the jiu-jitsu tournament he lost. He'd been only training a few months. He always liked striking more, but after he lost the jiu-jitsu tournament he came back so hungry wanting to learn, wanting to improve that his jiu-jitsu went a few levels up in the next few events. So, he's not a fighter who once he faces defeat, he sits back and says, 'Oh no, I'm not good enough' when he loses.

“He gets super hungry. So after this loss, he's gone back and he's really delved deep back into his game, understanding where his strengths are, where his weaknesses are and he's working super hard. He's studying everything he's analyzing. He's becoming more of a complete fighter.” Jubli’s recent opponent Breeden, who was on a three-fight skid and likely fighting to save his job, also missed weight by 3.5 pounds. While Singh admits it was unprofessional of Breeden, pulling out was never considered an option.

“Yeah, I mean, it was very unprofessional obviously, for the opponent to not make weight,” Singh said. “But listen, again, Anshul is a fighter and we went there to fight, we went there to win, we went there to represent India, you know? We've never really taken the easy route. We didn't want, you know, a bye or we just didn't want to walk over. We wanted to fight. We went in, we just had a tough training camp. Why not compete? Why not put yourself, you know, in front of millions of people and showcase your heart?

“No, Indian has ever been there. No Indian has ever won. He had an opportunity and he fought so well. So, I don't know, I never thought about pulling out of the fight, he never thought about pulling out of the fight. We were like, yeah, it's a fight 3.5 pounds. Yeah, unprofessional. But we were there to fight and we would fight.”

While there were reports of an April 27 UFC Fight Night booking between Jubli and China’s Maheshate Hayisaer, the Indian prospect has clarified that he isn’t scheduled for a bout as of now.