Maliha Ali Takes Bronze at IMMAF World Championship as Pakistan Appeals Semi-Final Loss

CORRECTION: Maliha Ali Takes Bronze — Semi-Final Loss to Baldina, Pakistan Appeals

Correction to our earlier update: Maliha Ali did not reach the IMMAF World Championship final. She lost her women’s featherweight (65.8kg) semi-final to Russia’s Polina Baldina by split decision on Thursday, November 5, in Tbilisi, Georgia — and takes home a bronze medal. Our earlier update wrongly described her quarter-final win as a semi-final win. We regret the error.

The semi-final was desperately close. No round was won clearly by either fighter. The three judges returned three different scorecards: one scored the bout 30-27 for Baldina, giving Maliha no rounds; a second scored it 29-28 for Maliha; the third scored it 29-28 for Baldina — and the decision went to the Russian.

Maliha fought through serious injuries: a fractured toe, a severely bruised eyelid and a partially dislocated jaw. She stood with her arms raised when the final bell rang, believing she had done enough.

The Pakistan MMA Federation has filed a formal appeal. It has submitted a letter to the Head of the IMMAF Refereeing and Judging Commission requesting a round-by-round breakdown of the scoring, an explanation for the disparate scorecards, and a face-to-face technical review of the bout. The appeal is pending.

Maliha’s twin sister, Manesha Ali, also had her run ended by a split decision — she lost her quarter-final in the 70.3kg category to Poland’s Martyna Karuk. Despite the ending, Maliha’s bronze — won over a two-time European champion and a Pan American champion — remains one of the finest results by a Pakistani woman at a world MMA championship.

Corrected November 6, 2026, from Dawn’s report of the semi-final and the federation’s appeal.

Pakistan’s Maliha Ali has stunned two-time European champion Veronika Drozdova of Russia at the IMMAF World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, winning their featherweight bout by split decision on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, to reach the quarter-finals of amateur MMA’s biggest event. The 24-year-old from Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, beat the 19-year-old Russian in the women’s featherweight (65.8kg) division on day three of the championships, in what The Express Tribune and Dawn both described as one of the standout results of the tournament so far. Maliha was due to face Mexico’s Andrea Gabriela Guzman Salazar in Wednesday’s quarter-finals as she chases a place in the last four.

The win continues a remarkable rise for a fighter who is also a wushu champion and a national kickboxing gold medallist, and who arrived in Tbilisi on the back of a silver medal at the IMMAF World Cup in Angola earlier this year. Her twin sister Manesha Ali, herself a gold medallist in Angola, was also in quarter-final action on Wednesday, against Poland’s Martyna Caruk — making it a potentially historic week for Pakistan’s women in the cage.

Key Facts: Maliha Ali’s Win at the IMMAF World Championships

How did Maliha Ali beat Veronika Drozdova?

According to Dawn’s report from Tbilisi, Maliha adopted a cautious approach in the opening round before moving forward to put Drozdova under pressure against the cage. Nukta’s account of the bout tells the same story: a measured start, then sustained forward pressure that swung the contest in the Hunza fighter’s favour. The judges ultimately scored it a split decision — a close, contested verdict, but one that went Pakistan’s way.

The scale of the upset is clear from who Drozdova is. The 19-year-old arrived in Tbilisi as a two-time European champion, part of a Russian team of more than 60 athletes with government backing and one of the best-funded programmes in amateur MMA. Dawn framed the result in exactly those terms: Russia arrived with one of the deepest squads in the sport, and a 24-year-old from Hunza beat one of its champions. Pakistan MMA Federation president Omar Ahmed, who was in Maliha’s corner, was reported to have leapt with joy as the decision was announced.

It is also worth noting what the result is not. A split-decision win in an amateur world championship bout is a major achievement, but it is not a professional title, and Maliha’s journey in Tbilisi is far from over. The quarter-final against Guzman Salazar of Mexico, scheduled for Wednesday, is the next hurdle — and the semi-finals and final would follow if she keeps winning through the week.

Who is Maliha Ali?

Maliha Ali, 24, comes from Hunza in Gilgit-Baltistan and trains at BRAVE Gym in Lahore alongside her twin sister Manesha. Her combat-sports background runs wider than MMA alone: she is a wushu champion and a national kickboxing gold medallist, and she has built her international reputation steadily through the IMMAF pathway.

The key stepping stone came earlier this year at the IMMAF World Cup in Angola, where Maliha won silver. Her sister Manesha went one better in Luanda, winning gold. That Angola campaign is part of why the Pakistan MMA Federation describes this Tbilisi squad as the strongest Pakistan has ever assembled for a World Championships — the team arrived with recent international medals behind it, not just hope.

Preparation for Tbilisi was deliberate. Dunya News reported that the federation organised a six-week training camp and hired an international jiu-jitsu and grappling coach to address weaknesses identified during the Angola competition. That detail matters: the win over Drozdova was not a lucky punch but the product of a targeted camp designed to fix exactly the grappling gaps that had cost Maliha in Angola.

What happens next for Maliha Ali in Tbilisi?

Maliha was scheduled to face Mexico’s Andrea Gabriela Guzman Salazar in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, 4 November, with a semi-final place at stake. Her twin sister Manesha faces Poland’s Martyna Caruk in her own quarter-final on the same day. At the time of writing, quarter-final results had not yet been reported by the outlets covering the championships, so this article records the quarter-final fixtures as scheduled rather than claiming results that have not been verified.

The championships run until 7 November in Tbilisi, with the world’s top amateur fighters competing for world titles across the weight divisions. For Pakistan, the immediate interest is whether both Ali sisters can reach the semi-finals — a result that would already count as the country’s best-ever showing at the event.

Who else is in Pakistan’s seven-fighter squad?

Pakistan sent a seven-member national contingent to Tbilisi, drawn from Karachi, Lahore, Rawalakot, Poonch and Hunza. The squad, announced before the tournament by the Pakistan MMA Federation, is: Shayan Mehdi (Karachi, strawweight 52.2kg), Shams Ur Rehman (Karachi, bantamweight 61.2kg), Syed M Qaim Abass (Lahore, super lightweight 74.8kg), Saria Khan (Rawalakot/Poonch, atomweight 47.6kg), Maliha Ali (Hunza, featherweight 65.8kg), Manesha Ali (Hunza, lightweight 70.3kg) and Hamood Ali Wajid (Lahore, junior super lightweight 74.8kg).

Federation president Omar Ahmed described the group as the strongest contingent Pakistan has ever assembled for the World Championships. The pre-tournament reports put the scale of the event at more than 1,000 elite fighters from over 70 countries gathering in Tbilisi — context that underlines how significant a win over a two-time European champion is, even before the quarter-finals.

One honest note from last year’s campaign, reported by Dawn: Pakistan’s previous World Championships campaign in Tbilisi was entirely self-funded through private sponsorship, with no government money. That background makes the current run — built on a six-week camp and an international grappling coach — all the more notable.

Why does this win matter for Pakistan MMA?

First, because of the opponent. Beating a two-time European champion from one of the deepest programmes in amateur MMA is a result that travels beyond Pakistan’s domestic scene — it puts a Pakistani name into the tournament’s main storylines, which is exactly how smaller MMA nations build recognition.

Second, because of who Maliha is. A 24-year-old woman from Hunza reaching the quarter-finals of a world championship, alongside her twin sister, is a powerful story for women’s sport in Pakistan — and it arrives through the amateur pathway, where athletes compete for national honours rather than professional purses.

Third, because of what comes next. If Maliha beats Guzman Salazar and reaches the semi-finals, she will be fighting for a guaranteed medal. That is the next milestone to watch, and this page will be updated when the quarter-final result is verified.

For the wider Pakistan sporting picture this week, see our coverage of Babar Azam’s controversial dismissal in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, our Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2026-27 schedule and preview, and our report on Glenn Maxwell’s retirement from international cricket.

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