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KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MAY 7: Fighters leap into the air during training at the Snow Leopard Fighting Championship (SLFC) gym ON MAY 7,2017 in Kabul. Sports like Cricket and soccer are well known in Afghanistan but Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is about to take off as a new sport for young people in a country ravaged by war, high unemployment and poverty. The Snow Leopard Fighting Championship (SLFC) is Afghanistan"u2019s first private MMA tournament. A custom built gym with a professional fighting cage is the first of it's kind in the country. It supports eager fighters who pay a small membership fee to take daily classes and houses the fights. MMA is big business with the UFC as the billion dollar brand. Fighters hope that the sport can bring about positive change. Afghan men are seriously into fitness going to small gyms all over the city. Some fighters started training as kick boxers, wrestlers, and traditional boxing, now they get to use all of their talents to learn MMA. Afghan flighters also look up to other stars who have made it big like Baz Mohammad Mubariz and Siyar Bahadurzada. Within Afghanistan there is no place to fight, this is why in 2015, Afghan Kakail Nuristani joined forces with his family members, including brother Amanullah, CEO of TeaHouse Consulting to build this new venture, the Snow Leopard Fighting Championship which is named after the endangered Afghan wildcat. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Reportage)