Tom Nolan opens up on rebuilding after unsuccessful UFC debut

Sayan NagSun, June 7, 2026 at 5:38 PM UTC·2 min read

Tom Nolan’s only professional loss taught him a lot of lessons. Nolan closed as a betting underdog going into his lightweight clash against Fares Ziam at UFC Fight Night 278 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Nolan outclassed Ziam on the ground while holding his own on the feet to earn a unanimous decision win. This was Nolan’s fifth straight victory after his lone professional loss in his 2024 promotional debut. Nolan made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship with the reputation of a highly touted prospect. In his UFC debut against Nikolas Motta, however, Motta derailed Nolan’s hype train by knocking him out a bit over a minute into the fight. Nolan revealed that he was inexperienced and doing a lot of things wrong as a 23-year-old. However, the Aussie doesn’t want to take away from Motta’s performance. As his stock fell, he rediscovered his love for the game, slowly building himself back. “Big Train” claims he felt no fear of losing going into his clash against Ziam. Nolan said in a post-fight interview: “No pressure at all,” he remarked. “Not even an ounce of pressure on me for this one. I went into my debut with super hype, 23-year-old train. And I got caught… I was cutting weight wrong at that time, I was a bit inexperienced. I was a perfectionist, coming into fight week on weight, just stupid things like that. I don’t like to talk about it too much, ‘cause I don’t want to take away from Motta. He caught me, he beat me. People started writing me off, said I was too young, I wasn’t ready. So, I fell back in love with the game.” Nolan continued, “I had to learn again who actually cares about me, what is actually important. I have got a great team around me, I have a family, I have a wife… I genuinely, hand over heart, didn’t care if I lost this fight. I obviously wanted to win, but I didn’t care if I lost. For me, it was, I wanted to come out and prove to myself that I wasn’t gonna be afraid of this guy.”