India, Feb. 14 -- At age 12, Siddharth Singh was thrust into the boxing ring at the Doon boarding school in Dehradun, following in his older brother's footsteps.

Little did he know that he would chart a path of a maverick, as a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter and a top Indian coach in Mixed Martial Arts.

For six years, Singh experienced defeat after defeat, fighting in an arena where the entire school gathered to watch. But something changed in his final year that earned him a spot in the Uttaranchal state boxing team.

"I was so focused on being technical and wasn't looking to win necessarily," Singh told HT at the Saket branch of his Cross Train Fight Club. "Finally, I really trained very hard and won my weight class."

His transformation...