Aussie’s stinging sledge to money-hungry UFC rival

Australia’s Tom Nolan has delivered a stinging sledge to his UFC rival this week, while also explaining his decision to uproot his life and move countries.

The 26-year-old is riding a five-fight win streak but faces the toughest task of his young career on Sunday (AEDT) against veteran Renato Moicano.

Nolan has jumped to No.12 in the promotion’s lightweight rankings and a win over Moicano – a previous UFC title challenger – could elevate him even higher.

Moicano is ranked inside the top-10 but is coming towards the end of his career and according to Nolan, has started placing focus in the wrong areas and that could come back to bite the Brazilian in a five-round main event.

“I think he’s at a point in his career where he’s not chasing the title anymore and he’s not really chasing to be the best,” the Queenslander told nine.com.au this week,

“I think he wants money as his main thing, which in my opinion is not the best resource of motivation. I would do this for free – fortunately I do get paid, which is awesome – but I don’t think it would be the same on his end.

“He would absolutely only fight me for a certain amount of money, which I think mentally is not good for him and it’s really positive for me.

Read more

Aussie star eyes ‘Christmas blowout’ before blockbuster Sydney fight

“I wanna be the best, I wanna be a champion, I’m young, I’m hungry and I’m super dedicated. He’s at the end of his career I think that really benefits me.”

Nolan (11-1, 5 KOs) wasn’t afraid to poke the proverbial bear in Moicano, who has been with the UFC for well over a decade and has competed against the likes of Islam Makhachev and Jose Aldo, but is now looking to cash in.

In fact, he even started going by the moniker “Money Moicano” a few years back.

On the flip-side, Nolan is as hungry as they come and he proved that leading into this fight when he packed up his life in Queensland and relocated to Auckland.

Spending a fortnight sharpening his skills at the famed City Kickboxing Gym, which has yielded world champions Israel Adesanya and Carlos Ulberg, was all it took for Nolan to realise he needed a change to enhance his own career.

“I went over for a two-week trial and fell in love with the first session,” he said.

“I had the first session, got on the phone, called my missus and said we’re going to move to New Zealand. She was like ‘all right’ and I was like ‘yeah, in two weeks’.

“She rang her boss and said we’re moving, she packed up the house, I got back, and then we moved and were back over there [in Auckland] in two weeks.

“It’s a dream come true. It’s the best team in the world in my opinion.

“I’m surrounded by other guys who are chasing the same dream, people who are ahead of me, people who are following in my footsteps.

“You get to help other guys on the come up and then you have guys above you who can help you. At my last gym I was very much more the lead horse, because it’s a smaller gym ... so it is a nice change, it’s been refreshing.”

Nolan says working with head coach Eugene Bareman and the rest of the CKB crew has lit a fire under him, making him feel “super calm and confident”.

Main-eventing for the UFC in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas, isn’t lost on Nolan – even if he feels like the nerves are lower this time around due to his increased experience competing for the sport’s top company.

With a nickname like “Big Train” – which was born from Thomas The Tank Engine and playing UFC video games with mates growing up – you’d be expecting Nolan to make a major statement against Moicano once the bell rings.

With the confidence instilled in him from a cross-Tasman move and the five-fight win streak, Nolan is ready to do exactly that in Sin City.

“I believe I will knock him out and if not, it’s a five-round masterclass,” he said.

“Physically preparing for five rounds was very hard, obviously, but, mentally I’ve always had the mindset of five rounds benefiting me.

“I’m a bit of a weaponised cardio sort of guy and I have a lot of trust in myself.”

This weekend’s UFC Vegas main card will begin at 11am AEDT on Sunday.