Maliha Ali fought with a fractured toe, a severely bruised eyelid and a partially dislocated jaw. She fought anyway.

When Omar Ahmed, president of the Pakistan MMA Federation, asked if she could compete, her response was simple.

“Sir, we fight from the heart,” she said. “These hands and feet are just not that important.”

That courage carried her to the semi-final. It couldn’t carry her past the judges.

Maliha’s run at the IMMAF World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, ended in a bronze medal and a dispute on Thursday, with the Pakistan MMA Federation filing a formal appeal over her split-decision loss to Russia’s Polina Baldina in the featherweight (65.8kg) semi-final.

Baldina, 23, is a former world champion in a different MMA federation, having won a world title in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2024, and had won three bouts en route to the final.

Maliha had a run of her own. She beat another Russian in the same division on Tuesday, two-time European champion Veronika Drozdova, by split decision, then reached the semi-final with a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Andrea Gabriela Guzman Salazar.

When the final bell rang against Baldina, Maliha stood with her arms raised, believing she had done enough.

The fight was close. No round was won clearly by either fighter. The second could have gone to Baldina. The first and third were tight, with Maliha landing the cleaner shots in the third.

The scorecards told a different story. One judge scored the bout 30-27 for Baldina, giving Maliha no rounds. Another scored it 29-28 for Maliha. The third scored it 29-28 for Baldina. Three judges, three different scorecards, and the decision went to the Russian.

“It was a clear win. We were literally robbed,” Omar told Dawn.

The federation has submitted a formal 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 both fights.

Omar highlighted a deeper issue. In the letter, he noted that Pakistan lost a semi-final by split decision at last year’s championships as well.

“When different explanations are provided for similar judging situations, it becomes difficult for national federations to establish a consistent understanding of the standards against which their athletes are being assessed,” the letter stated.

Omar went further, alleging that ex-Soviet states favour each other in judging and dominate the refereeing space. He said Russia brought two fighters per weight class and a multi-million dollar budget through national sponsors, while Pakistan had zero officials on the panel.

Wednesday had been a tough day for the family, too. Maliha’s twin sister Manesha, who won gold at the IMMAF World Cup in Angola earlier this year, also lost a narrow split decision to Poland’s Martyna Caruk in the lightweight (70.3kg) quarter-finals.

The appeal is pending. Maliha leaves Tbilisi with a bronze medal and, her federation insists, a claim to something more.

She fought from the heart. Now, her federation fights for her.