How Jay Rajakariyar Is Building Malta Fight Co. Into a Destination for Fighters
Jay never dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur.
He certainly didn’t imagine himself building a combat sports company on a Mediterranean island, recruiting coaches internationally, hosting professional-caliber fight events, and working around the clock to position Malta as a premier destination for fighters from around the world.
Yet when the seemingly disconnected pieces of his life are placed together, the journey begins to make perfect sense. The puzzle pieces just seem to fit.
Searching for a Place to Belong
As a Tamil born amidst the Sri Lankan civil war, Jay’s early years were shaped by turbulence. His family fled the country when he was about 12 months old and emigrated to the United Kingdom. Although the UK became home for most of his life, part of him always felt he belonged to warmer climes - on a sunlit island with beaches, palm trees and a more relaxed pace of life.
Combat sports weren’t an obvious part of his early story. As a child, Jay was far more interested in art rather than sports. His grandfather was a painter, his father was also an artist, and painting was the one discipline that came naturally to him. As time went on, teenage distractions led to his artistic interests gradually fading into the background.
Jay eventually enrolled at the London School of Economics to study actuarial science. While the subject taught him how to translate risk into prices, he realized that sitting at a desk and discovering his true passions were two entirely different things.
When asked what he truly learned at university, Jay gives a much simpler answer:
He learned how to box.
The Coach Who Changed Everything
Jay joined the university’s boxing team with little knowledge of the sport beyond a few Rocky films and the occasional televised super-fight with friends.
Then he met coach Ian Streetz, who changed everything.
Ian taught with such passion that an entire community fell in love with boxing. His approach was also unconventional. While many amateur boxing gyms reserved pad-holding for coaches only, Ian had the students regularly hold pads for one another.
The team learned multiple styles—including the Philly shell, Russian, and Mexican styles of boxing. Without necessarily intending to, Ian was developing more than fighters; he was developing future coaches.
Boxing also began changing Jay personally. He entered university as an introvert and gradually became more sure of himself. He could compete in front of hundreds of spectators, although speaking into a microphone after a fight still terrified him.
The journey toward finding his voice had begun, but there was much more work ahead.
Banking, the Army Reserves, and a Different Kind of Education
After barely completing his degree (much to his parents' initial chagrin), Jay went through a period in which he viewed himself as a bit of a failure. He accepted an entry-level position with Metro Bank and quickly discovered an organization that invested heavily in developing its people.
Jay thrived in that environment. Leadership courses gradually helped him become more comfortable communicating and speaking in front of audiences. Still, he wondered whether he wanted to spend his life pushing paper behind a desk. One year into his banking career, he joined the Army Reserves as a Gunner in the Royal Yeomanry.
Military life tested him immediately. Prior to joining, Jay had never slept a single night under the stars; as he quipped, "Sri Lankan families generally don't go camping!" The cultural logic was simple: having escaped a civil war for a new life in the West, intentionally sleeping outside in the cold was the last thing his family ever expected him to choose.
Basic training nearly broke him, and he wanted to throw in the towel. However, his squad convinced him to remain, even as exhaustion, mistakes, and seemingly endless push-ups pushed him to new limits.
He learned to embrace the challenge, staying on for five years in the Army Reserves where he developed crucial leadership, discipline, and confidence under pressure. Alongside his military service, he spent six years in banking, eventually advancing to Relationship Manager for Business customers—a role that gave him invaluable, firsthand insight into business finance, operations, and client relationships.
While neither path seemed like traditional preparation for founding a combat sports company at the time, both proved essential. In hindsight, they provided the ideal entrepreneurial foundation: combining financial acumen and strategic business management with military structure, resilience, accountability, and the vital importance of a strong team.
Choosing Passion Over the Expected Path
Later at the age of 29, COVID forced Jay to examine the direction of his life.
He looked at his work in banking and the military and asked himself a difficult question: Do you genuinely love what you’re doing?
His honest answer was no.
During the pandemic, Jay also returned to painting and began selling some of his work through social media. Travel restrictions helped him save his money, giving him the financial freedom to reconsider the traditional path of buying a home in London, settling into a predictable career, and following a life designed by someone else.
Jay chose a different path, stepping into the offices of both the bank and the Army Reserves to hand in his notice. He broke the news to his concerned superiors: he was moving to Malta to pursue art full-time, with a side hustle as a boxing coach. What sounded like a wild gamble at the time was the decisive step that ultimately led to the creation of Malta Fight Company.
The decision has not made life easy. Jay describes entrepreneurship as an emotional rollercoaster in which every victory is usually followed by another problem to solve. But he also considers business one of the most powerful personal-development tools available.
For him, success in business isn’t ultimately about numbers or key performance indicators. It’s about becoming a better person and helping others do the same.
Changing Lives Through Combat Sports
That mission is visible throughout Malta Fight Co. today, serving a vibrant community of over 500 members. Some people enter its doors as complete beginners and eventually compete in their first fights. Others arrive as amateur athletes, turn professional, and begin winning titles. These days many of those transformations happen through the work of Jay’s coaches rather than Jay himself. You can often find him working behind the scenes on administration, operations, or organizational challenges, but the joy remains unchanged.
The platform and system his team has built are allowing people to become healthier, more disciplined, and more confident.
Jay understands that transformation personally. Combat sports helped an introverted young man find confidence, endure adversity and discover a purpose he never expected.
Now, his team at Malta Fight Co. is multiplying that impact every week.
Putting Malta on the Combat Sports Map
Jay’s vision extends far beyond operating a successful gym. He wants to pioneer combat sports tourism, making Malta a premier destination for training camps, international events, and cross-border collaborations.
The company also hires coaches internationally, operates the Fight Talk media platform, and invests heavily in its own events. Its events incorporate tale of the tape data, live replays, global livestreams, sponsor integrations, and professional commentary to deliver the atmosphere of a premier global promotion
Jay even wants competing gyms to up their game too. If international athletes research Malta as a training destination, he wants them to discover an entire ecosystem of high-quality gyms with outstanding reviews. “Competition is a gift if it’s about mutual elevation” he noted.
His leadership philosophy follows that same spirit. Jay isn’t interested in reminding people that he’s in charge. He defines leadership as servitude to his team (and that it is always easier said than done).
His next evolution requires him to fire himself as a coach to strengthen the company’s systems, nurture its talent, raise additional capital and become the leader its expanding vision requires.
Malta Fight Co. is no longer simply a few coaches working out of a small studio. Jay and his team are building something structured, ambitious, and investable, and they’re inviting the global combat sports community to become part of it.
Whether you’re an experienced fighter, a complete beginner, a coach, a gym owner, or an organization searching for an unforgettable international training camp, Malta Fight Co. is ready to welcome you. Visit maltafightco.com and discover how you can train, compete, collaborate, and experience combat sports in one of the Mediterranean’s most extraordinary destinations.
The Pillars Behind the Vision
No company is built by one person alone, and Jay is quick to credit the instrumental figures who backed him when Malta Fight Co. was still just an ambitious idea as well as those who have driven the growth that has led to what you see today:
Nick Leszai: Jay’s mentor and initial Angel investor, who saw a spark before anyone else did and continues to advise on the human side of the business.
Saleem Akbar: A client-turned-early-stage investor and close friend, who recognized the business's potential before it had legs and has heavily supported its tech architecture.
Andrea Preca & Karina Lemesheva (Preluna Hotel): The visionaries who first said yes to hosting the formerly named ‘Sliema Fight Co.’ on the hotel rooftop—and later became shareholders who helped fund the expansion to a second location. Despite all the noise and disruption of running fight sessions on a hotel roof, Andrea and Karina believed in the concept from day one. Their mentorship was pivotal for a first-time entrepreneur, offering invaluable guidance on pricing, commission structures, and business management.
Calvin Dean: Coach turned Chief Operations Director. Jay’s true right-hand man, trainer of their Muay Thai champions, the driving force behind bringing MTGP to Malta, and an indispensable daily business partner.
Ali Storm: Instrumental in launching our media platform, FightTalk.mt; an incredible ring announcer for MTGP; and the ultimate host at their annual Christmas Parties and Malta Fight Co. Legacy Awards.
Best Gyms Malta: Key strategic partners who believed in the business model, whose exceptional growth and investment continue to fuel Malta Fight Co.’s own expansion.
The Coaching Team & Community: The exceptional coaching staff who built a formidable team of fighters, alongside a dedicated member base—the kind of community that shows up to clean and keep training even through power outages and flooded gyms.
His Family: For their unwavering support—even as he pursued a path that was completely unconventional by traditional Tamil standards. From his decision to move to Malta to navigating every twist and turn of this rollercoaster, they provided endless assistance and never stopped believing in him. He truly couldn't have built any of this without them.