Seven years after trying to play his way into an NRL contract, the young leaguie who Dana White dubs a “straight killer” is set to make his hyped UFC debut.
Once a tearaway backrower with the Toowoomba Clydesdales, 23-year-old Tom Nolan is set to make his Octagon debut on the company’s first show of 2024 – facing Brazilian Nikolas Motta on a Las Vegas Fight Night event on January 14.
Dubbed ‘Big Train’, the undefeated lightweight’s arrival comes on the back of a spectacularly violent performance in August, where he scored scoring a devastating left hook KO on Dana White’s Contender Series.
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So impressive was the performance which earned him a UFC contract, White labelled the rookie a “straight killer” afterwards.
While the boss also then offered Nolan a quick turnaround, and a spot on UFC 293 in Sydney a month later, the breakout Queenslander politely knocked it back – explaining he was determined not to rush his UFC debut.
“Because this is a cutthroat sport,” Nolan told Fox Sports Australia this week. “Especially at the start.
“So right now, I have to make the right decisions, take the right fights, get the right training in and ensure I’m not coming down from these big highs and jumping straight back in.
“I have to give myself time to deal with the emotion.
“And now having reset, I’m hungry again.
“Having had this bit of time off, I now want nothing more than to see someone on the floor unconscious, not breathing.
“That’s what I want.
“I’m worked up and hungry to be in there.”
Asked about White’s “straight killer” praise, he continued: “It’s crazy because I’ve always envisioned this.
“Ever since the age of 15, I’ve always thought this is what would happen.
“So then when it does? It’s a weird feeling.
“I honestly can’t describe it.
“On one hand I get excited but then, on the other, I feel nothing because I’ve seen it all happen so many times in my head.
“Even when I was walking to the cage for that fight on Contender, I was thinking ‘yeah, I’m going to get Dana White on his feet for this, hands on his head.
“And when the finish came he was there, stood up with his hands on his head.”
Incredibly, it was only a few years ago that Nolan, who initially took up wrestling and jiu jitsu to improve his footy defence, was still dreaming of a career with the North Queensland Cowboys, Brisbane Broncos, whoever.
“My first dream was definitely to play NRL,” says the fighter now set to follow a host of rugby league converts including Alexander Volkanovski, Robert Whittaker, Tai Tuivasa, even legendary heavyweight Mark Hunt.
“My older brother had already trialled for a few NRL clubs himself and so, growing up together I wanted to do the same.
“And initially that’s what got me into MMA, to help with my defence.
“(Laughs) Although at the start I was so bad. Horrific.
“Yet over time I started to get better and by 14 I’d been in two amateur fights.”
Then in U15s, Nolan helped Valleys to a premiership win over Souths before, afterwards, his fight coaches sat him down for a chat he hadn’t even thought about.
“I’d been training MMA for a year, had two amateur fights and my coaches told me ‘look, you’re fairly good at both sports, and you’re about to get to that point where you have to choose’,” he recalled.
“At the time, I’d never even thought about that.
“But then (over the summer) I had my third MMA fight, went to war with the guy and won.
“He was 9-0, it was my first fight with Eternal, and standing there in the cage afterwards, both of us all banged up, I decided ‘yeah, this is what I’m doing’.”
Which, undeniably, has proved the right choice.
Despite arriving on Contender in just his sixth pro fight, Nolan needed only 83 seconds to finish outspoken rival Bogdan Grad, who somewhat bizarrely had spent much of the build up trolling the former rugby league player on social media.
Yet in a huge first round finish, Nolan first dropped his opponent with a huge left hook, before again then landing so hard with the same hand on his downed rival, the Austrian’s mouthguard flew out.
Asked his memories of the bout now four months on, Nolan says: “It ended exactly as I expected”.
So expect the same level of violence against Motta in January?
“Oh, absolutely,” he insisted.
“I honestly struggle to see it going past the first.
“I’m also hoping for his sake it doesn’t go beyond one round. That way I can just put him out of his misery.
“Because if not, I’m dragging this dude through the mud.
“It’s going to be a long night for him.”
Pushed on Motta, the Aussie continued: “He’s a veteran who likes to sit down and throw with a lot of power.
“And he’s definitely got a lot of power.
“I respect his hands.
“But I just think his style matches up terribly with mine.
“He’ll want to fight the same way as me, but he isn’t as good as me. And his physical attributes don’t line up well, either.
“I’m a taller guy, better gas tank, faster and use more weapons.
“I’m going to laser in on his chin and get him out of there quickly.”
Certainly Nolan has form.
Apart from being on a tear of four straight stoppages – and three within a round – the fighter is also coming off that most recent KO so devastating, UFC commentator Paul Felder described it as “one of the most deadly shots I’ve seen”.
White was also quick to welcome Nolan to the company afterwards when handing out UFC contracts.
“Tom Nolan I shouldn’t even have to say anything,” he grinned. “But I’m gunna.
“Six foot, three, 155 pounds, he’s a straight killer.
“Only 23 years old, the only thing I have to say about this kid is ‘you have a bright future Tom Nolan’.”
Motta, meanwhile, was making headlines of his own last month thanks to his involvement in a controversial No Contest, where referee Mike Beltran was ruled to have called an early stoppage to the fight.
In the third round, Motta was taken to the ground by opponent Trey Ogden, who locked in a tight triangle choke and threatened for the finish.
But with Motta still conscious and defending, Beltran moved in, urged him to show something and then, with the Brazilian still working, grabbed his arm and stopped the fight.
Motta, unsurprisingly, jumped to his feet in protest and, after review, the bout was declared a no contest, with Ogden also furious given, despite his dominating, there would be no win bonus.
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