Toowoomba fighter Tom Nolan rated as a future champion by rival after UFC debut

Despite suffering a crushing defeat on his UFC debut, Tom Nolan has earned high praise from his rival, labelled as a future champion of the sport. See what his opponent had to say here.

Nikolas Motta of Brazil punches Tom Nolan during the UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

It was meant to be the fight which put Toowoomba’s Tom “Big Train” Nolan on the world stage but instead it ended in agony.

Brazilian lightweight Nikolas Motta spoiled Nolan’s UFC debut with a crushing first round TKO on Sunday morning in just 63 seconds.

Competing in the second fight on the UFC Vegas 84 card, the Aussie fighter, 23, was predicted to continue his unbeaten record as a professional fighter but Motta had other ideas.

A bumper crowd was in attendance at Toowoomba City Golf Club to cheer on the local hero and there were huge roars when Nolan made his way into the Octagon.

Those cheers were soon silenced as Motta delivered a crushing upset.

From the opening seconds it was clear the bout was going to be action-packed as both fighters trading early blows in an explosive start to the contest.

It was that aggression which proved the downfall for the Queenslander as he left himself briefly exposed and Motta capitalised with a powerful right hook which knocked Nolan to the floor.

From there the fight was Motta’s for the taking as he dealt a flurry of heavy punches to Nolan before the referee stepped in and called the fight in just over a minute.

After the fight Motta was delighted to claim his victory against the odds in such emphatic fashion.

“I knew that would be a very hard fight,” Motta said.

“Tom Nolan, he’s a killer. I saw him in the elevator today and I said, ‘Yeah, that for sure isn’t going to be a boring fight.’ “I know I have a lot of power and I work with some of the best, it feels great.”

Despite the initial setback for his UFC debut, Nolan’s opponent believed the Australian still had what it takes to become a force in the sport.

“He’s a great fighter. When I watch his fight, everything looks perfect. He was undefeated and he has a nice body type, he is crazy, six foot three,” Motta said.

“I see he is so confident that he says he is going to be a UFC champion and he can do it because he is a very young guy, he is 23 years old, and even though I think it was disrespectful the things he said about me, he is young too.

“When I was that young, I did things like that too and and I had to learn and that’s how we learn in life, we experience sometimes a bad experience but we just got to learn from that and grow as a fighter (and) as a person.”

Nolan went into the fight with unrivalled confidence claiming he would deliver a first round knockout which was a major motivating factor for the Brazilian fighter.

The shock result sent shockwaves across social media with punters blown away by the rapid TKO by the underdog.

“Nikolas Motta with the upset!!! Holy smokes,” a commenter said.

“What a HUGEEEEEE upset,” another said.

“Nikolas Motta destroys Tom Nolan.”