T. Banskis has signed a long-term and exclusive contract with the organization, which means that the fighter will continue his development with UTMA in the near future.
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“This has been and still is one of the organization’s key goals – to ensure the future, activity, and fight plan for the fighters. Tomas Banskis was one of the pillars of this direction because he is one of the most talented young fighters in Lithuania, one of the most promising. I believe this step allows us to look forward to Lithuania soon having another superstar in combat sports,” commented UTMA head Viktoras Gecas on the decision.
Having recently joined the “Number One Fight Club” in Palanga, T. Banskis is already well known to UTMA fans – the fighter has appeared in UTMA rings 4 times, winning 4 victories, suffering no defeats, and finishing 3 of those wins early.
“I feel very good, maybe even a bit euphoric – this contract means a lot to me, it shows that I am on the right path, the one I have followed all my life and have finally reached my first serious milestone. The significance is huge, I am the youngest UTMA fighter, having signed a long-term contract at just 18. This gives me even more motivation and will bring more discipline so I can prove to people that I deserve it,” said T. Banskis himself.
T. Banskis debuted in the UTMA organization back in 2024 at the UTMA 7 event, when he defeated Nedas Mikalauskas by technical knockout in just 92 seconds. In total, during his first three career fights in the UTMA organization, he never went beyond the first round, and only in the latest fight at the UTMA 18 event against Edvinas Šimončius did T. Banskis need all three rounds.
“He is still very young, he needs fights with increasingly experienced opponents to feel what it means to fight in the ring, and everything else depends only on the fighter, his work, and dedication. In this sport, the sky is the limit – we have seen changes in disciplines, transitions from kickboxing to UFC, so everything is possible,” said V. Gecas.
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Only collecting victories, T. Banskis does not hide that his goals in the organization are the highest, and he wants to decorate and solidify them with a championship belt.
“The goals are to improve, grow, get stronger, have many serious fights, and take the UTMA championship belt. Just signing the contract does not yet make me consider myself part of the European kickboxing elite, I know I can grow. When I prove to people that I deserve it, then we will talk,” said T. Banskis.
By the way, T. Banskis’s new coach Ąžuolas Zubė publicly revealed that the fighter had also received an offer from another major European kickboxing organization, “Glory,” but the young talent did not hesitate in choosing to continue his career with UTMA.
“I chose UTMA now because this organization provides excellent conditions for growth – I can fight here in the most serious fights, at the highest level, earn very good money, fight in tournaments watched by the whole world, we ourselves saw the views on my Instagram post – 5 million. I need to show good fights and I am very grateful to the UTMA organization for this opportunity, the contract, and we move forward,” said T. Banskis.
“Currently, we only fall short of the ‘Glory’ organization in that we are significantly younger and have significantly fewer fighters who have a longer history with us. However, based on the conditions we can offer, how we treat and retain our fighters, we can confidently compete with both ‘Glory’ and ‘One.’ Other things come with time. It was nice to learn that Banskis had such an offer, and even nicer to learn that he confidently signed a contract with UTMA, not with ‘Glory,'” stated V. Gecas.
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