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Karma Fight League expands to overseas: KFL 9 puts Colombo on world stage

Karma Fight League (KFL), Sri Lanka’s largest combat sports property, is set to expand beyond the island with its amateur qualifying series, Road to KFL (RKFL), scheduled to roll out in India, Pakistan and Nepal in November and December 2026.

The expansion follows nine events held in Colombo, with the latest, KFL 9, taking place on 12 September at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre (SLECC).

All nine bouts on the KFL 9 card were international match-ups featuring athletes from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Nepal, including two women’s contests. More than 3,000 fans attended the event, while hundreds of thousands more followed it digitally.

In the main event, India’s Fahad Zedan defeated Sri Lanka’s Januka Ranaweera to become the KFL World Light Welterweight Champion.

Zedan is the League’s third title holder, following Sri Lanka’s Kavindu Rasanjaya and India’s Sonam Zomba, who is ranked South Asia’s number one female fighter.

Karma Fight League Chairman Raveen Wickramasinghe said: “KFL’s future is regional. Road to KFL takes us into India, Pakistan and Nepal, and from there we build a South Asian combat sports platform that the world pays attention to.”

Corporate backing has also followed the League’s expansion. Ruhunu Hospital, the largest private healthcare provider in the Southern Province, was the title sponsor of KFL 9 under a multi-event partnership covering athlete medical support and event safety.

Ruhunu Hospital Assistant Medical Director Dr Hasara Kulatunga said: “Ruhunu Hospital has built its reputation on clinical standards, and we believe those standards belong in sport too. Working with KFL allows us to contribute to the development of combat sports in Sri Lanka and to give athletes a professional environment with the right medical cover. As the league takes its qualifiers across South Asia, we look forward to seeing more athletes benefit.”

KFL 9 was endorsed by Sri Lanka Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism, reflecting the country’s efforts to position itself as a regional destination for sport and entertainment.