Video of a 2016 fight between two Indian female wrestlers goes viral with misleading claims

The video shows Kavitha, a former police officer from Haryana who is also a powerlifting and mixed martial arts champion, fighting Bul Bul, India's first female professional wrestler.

A wrestling video between a professional wrestler and a woman in a saffron salwar kameez is going viral on social media. In the video, the professional wrestler is seen issuing an open challenge and within a few seconds, a woman from the audience in a salwar kameez enters the ring and knocks down the trained wrestler. Users sharing the video claim that the trained wrestler is from Pakistan and that the woman in the salwar kameez who accepts the challenge is Kavitha Vijayalakshmi from Tamil Nadu. It is a women's wrestling championship in Dubai.

Let us check the truth.

दुबई में आयोजित महिला कुश्ती चैम्पियनशिप का. फ ाइनल एक पाकिस्तानी महिला पहलवान ने जीता। उन्होंने इस कुश्ती प्रतियोगिता को देख रही. भार तीय महिलाओं का मज़ाक उड़ाया और किसी भी भार तीय महिला को मंच पर आकर उनसे मुकाबला करने की चुनौत ी दी। It's not easy… pic.twitter.com/zuPuMcYyHk

– Vikash Mohta (@VikashMohta_IND) 26 August 2024

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Fact check-

We began our investigation by searching for relevant keywords and came across a report published on IndiaTV on June 17, 2016. According to the report, the viral video dates back to 2016 and is from Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE), a professional wrestling promotion and training school founded by Indian WWE Champion The Great Khali in Jalandhar, Punjab.

CWE was held at the Great Khali Training School in Jalandhar. Bibi Bulbul, the student of The Great Khali, openly challenged the audience to wrestle. A woman named Kavita accepted the challenge and entered the ring to knock out Bibi Bulbul. Kavita is a former police officer from Haryana. In addition, Kavita was also a mixed martial arts champion.

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On further research, we also found a report by the Indian Express published on the same day. It also states that the video is from the same event organised by CWE. According to the report, “the woman, a former police officer from Haryana and powerlifting and mixed martial arts champion Kavita, will be seen knocking down wrestler BB Bull Bull within a matter of minutes as the crowd cheers her on.”

Upon further investigation, we found that the same video was uploaded to CWE’s official YouTube channel on June 13, 2016.

Next, we looked for details about the professional wrestler and found a video on PTC Punjabi’s Facebook page with the caption “Watch the inspiring story of BB Bulbul (Sarabjit Kaur), India’s first female professional wrestler.”

Considering all this evidence, it is clear that the viral video is not new and does not originate from Dubai. The professional wrestler in the ring is Bibi Bulbul, India's first female professional wrestler, and the woman in front of her is Kavita, a former police officer from Haryana.

Diploma-

Fact Crescendo found that the claim made in the post Misleading. The video shows Kavitha, a former police officer from Haryana who is also a powerlifting and mixed martial arts champion, battling Bul Bul, India's first professional female wrestler. Neither woman has any connection to Pakistan.