Nikolas Motta beat the odds against trash-talking Tom Nolan with 63-second upset at UFC Fight Night 234
LAS VEGAS – Nikolas Motta beat Tom Nolan with a first-round TKO Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 234 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Motta, who picked up the event’s fastest finish, but was left without a post-fight performance bonus.
Nikolas Motta vs. Tom Nolan
Result: Nikolas Motta def. Tom Nolan via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:03
Updated records: Motta (14-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Nolan (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Key stats: Motta has 10 of his 14 pro wins by knockout.
Motta on the fight's key moment
“I feel great. I did exactly what I’ve been working a lot at Xtreme (Couture), and what I’ve been working with my coach and with my training partners. My main training partner was Julian Rosa, and he has a similar style and similar body. Julian is a very tall ’45 with very lanky arms and very, very aggressive, just like my opponent. I knew that it wouldn’t be an easy task. This guy I fought, when I watched his fight on (Dana White’s Contender Series), everything looks perfect. We couldn’t see nothing. We couldn’t see any mistake in his fight. I watched Contender Series and I knew that he was supposed to be a big star coming from Australia. And that’s why I’m saying that I just beat the odds.”
Motta on differing mentalities
“That gave me a lot of motivation, but I don’t know if it was personal. I saw a lot of things – when he got signed, he said something that when he has an opponent, his whole life goes around the guy and he’s trying to take as many years possible of the guy’s life. I was like, ‘Damn. Why, man? Everyone has family.’ I’m a very exciting fighter. I want to entertain people. I want to put on a nice performance. I want to put on wars and knock people out. But at the same time, I don’t want to hurt nobody.”
Motta on what he wants next
“That would be so nice because the best times of my career was fight day in Atlantic City, (N.J.). My best fights used to be in Atlantic city. … That would be so nice to walk out with my walkout song and touching people’s hands and feeling the energy of the crowd. I feel always when I did fight with a crowd was my adrenaline made me do some like crazy stuff and I had some good knockouts with the crowd.”
To hear more from Motta, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 234.
