Diwiz Piya never minces his words. He is carefree in many ways. But he is strict when it comes to training, which is best understood by his trainees. And who better understands it than Rabindra Dhant?

Dhant has worked hand in glove with Piya for about five years now. Their partnership was a result of an unprecedented meeting, which now seems to have been a destiny for both.

The journey the two have taken together, from a chance meeting in Kathmandu to the brink of UFC, mirrors the rise of mixed martial arts in Nepal itself. As coach and fighter, the two have grown together, turning raw potential into international promise. With Dhant now stepping onto the Road to UFC stage, their shared ambition carries not just personal stakes but the hopes of a nation eager to see one of its own break into the global arena.

The two first met in 2021 and began training together. Piya coached Dhant for a few events in India. Their bond solidified in 2023 when Dhant became the main event in Nepal Warriors Championship, the country’s first MMA promotion fight that Piya pioneered. Dhant won the title.

Under Piya’s aegis, Dhant has gone on to become the first Nepali to fight at the ONE Championship, the biggest MMA promotion in Asia. When he won the bantamweight title at the Matrix Fight Night in India last year, he became a household name in Nepal. He drew attention not just to himself but also to Nepal’s fledgling MMA scene. Dhant and his coach/manager Piya are now looking at a maiden entry to the UFC, the world’s most popular MMA promotion.

Dhant had humble beginnings. Hailing from a poor family in Bajhang, he went to India for work during his teenage days. In India, his well-wishers inspired him to take up martial arts. Dhant had a sturdy build.

The more time Dhant spent in the gym, training, the more he dived deeper into the sport. And when he was in Kathmandu as an amateur MMA fighter, he met Piya at The Pump.

“I was looking for a gym that taught jiu-jitsu and other forms of mixed martial arts,” Dhant said in the Sushant Pradhan Podcast in 2023. “A friend suggested The Pump.” Piya coached at The Pump then.

“I had a fight in India, and I needed a good coach,” Dhant added. “I found Piya at The Pump.”

The two clicked immediately.

“When I did a brief sparring session to test him,” Piya, a fighter-turned coach, said in the same podcast, “I told myself that I had found a diamond in the rough.”

Dhant did indeed turn into a diamond over the years. Dhant, who is affectionately called ‘Bajhang ko Bagh’, became Nepal’s first international MMA champion when he won the bantamweight title at Matrix Fight Night in India last year. Many fans describe him as a ‘national pride’.

Dhant’s records are outstanding. As per Tapology, one of the world’s biggest fight databases, Dhant’s professional MMA record stands at 9-1. Dhant had won his sixth straight professional fight in the inaugural Nepal Warriors Championship in 2023.

Dhant became the first Nepali to fight at the ONE Championship in 2023. He defeated Russian fighter Torepchi Dongak on his ONE debut on September 15, 2023. Dhant’s only loss in the professional category also came in the ONE Championship—against Pakistan’s Ismail Khan on December 15, 2023.

Many Nepalis follow MMA religiously. There are many Nepalis who stay up all night to watch MMA fights around the world, especially the UFC. They know the records of champs like Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev by heart.

Now, Dhant and Piya are on the verge of turning a rare dream of Nepalis into reality—watching a Nepali fighter at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the biggest MMA promotion in the world.

Dhant is facing Kimbert Alintozon in the Bantamweight division (>61.2kg) in the fifth season of Road to UFC in Macau, China, next month.

Road to UFC is a ‘win and advance’ tournament featuring top MMA prospects from the Asia Pacific and offers them a pathway to a UFC contract. Dhant is the first Nepali fighter to participate in the tournament.

“It was our dream, bro,” Piya told the Post over phone on Wednesday morning. “UFC contract is always the dream of a mixed martial artist.”

The bigger platforms, however, demand extra training and focus. And the two were at work when the Post was on a call with Piya.

Dhant was on his knees, tired, surrounded by around half-a-dozen fighters when he was resting for a few minutes during rigorous training. It was during that gap that Piya got a few minutes to speak to the Post about the training targeting Macau.

“The best fighter does not always win in MMA,” Piya said as he turned to an audio call from a short video call showing Dhant’s training at Lock n Roll MMA. “It is always difficult against a fighter who has a lot of variables. Sometimes it comes down to one lucky shot.”

Piya, however, does not want Dhant to fall back on ‘luck’, at least not yet. He wants Dhant to train at the well-equipped Soma Fight Club in Bali, Indonesia.

But the duo has not been able to fly to Bali as soon as they wanted to due to visa-related issues.

“We believe we will soon be in Bali as the training at Soma is extremely essential,” Piya told the Post. “We would also be required to reach Macau much earlier than the day of the fight.”

In less than a month, Dhant will be up against Kimbert Alintozon, the fighter from the Philippines nicknamed ‘the Hunter’, at Galaxy Arena in Macau on May 28. Tapology mentions Kimbert’s professional record at 7-3.

Dhant will have to defeat Kimbert to progress and cement his chances of a UFC contract. If he defeats Kimbert, Dhant will face the winner between Japan’s Yunosuke Minami and New Zealand’s Kasib Murdoch.

There are four fights in Dhant’s category, each working as a quarter-final. China’s Ti Haitao vs Japan’s Ryo Tajima and Japan’s Ryuho Miyaguchi vs Korea’s You Min Shin are competing in the other two fights.

It is not that the UFC contract is given only to tournament winners. When a fighter is good, even finalists and non-tournament bout winners have got UFC contracts over the years. Whether Dhant will make the cut is anyone’s guess.

For now, Dhant and his coach Piya are hard at work to make that dream a reality.

Dhant and Piya are already role models for Nepali MMA fighters. And when Dhant walks into the cage in Macau, he will not be fighting alone, but carrying the belief of those who saw the UFC dream long before it felt possible.

Speaking to the Post, Piya said he was locked in. “To be honest, I have not had the chance to give time to think about how I am feeling right now,” he said. “I am busy with the training.”