Tom Nolan’s rise from rugby league to Renato Moicano main event in Las Vegas

Tom Nolan used to play the UFC video game with his mates.

Now he is headlining the real thing against a bloke he grew up watching.

And somewhere back in Queensland, the mate who helped pick his “Big Train” nickname from that same video game will be smiling.

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It is a fair journey for the former Toowoomba Clydesdales backrower, who started wrestling and jiu-jitsu to improve his rugby league defence – and now faces Renato Moicano in the biggest opportunity of his fighting career.

But if you ask the people closest to him, not much has changed.

“For my mates, they just treat me as same old Tom,” Nolan told Fox Sports Australia.

The talented Aussie lightweight, described by Dana White as a “straight killer”, admits it feels surreal to be preparing to fight a big name he grew up watching.

He just doesn’t feel out of place.

“I’ve earned my way into this position, and it feels like divine timing,” he said.

“I feel like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.”

Even headlining the card comes second to the opportunity in front of him.

“For me, it’s more like this fight is the opportunity,” Nolan said.

“It’s fighting a guy that I’ve been watching since I was a kid. That’s super important to me.”

Back home, Nolan keeps a small circle.

There are old friends stoked to see where fighting has taken him. But he has little interest in those relationships changing because his name is now headling a card for the biggest fight promotion in the world.

“I’m just Tom. I’m just their homie,” he said.

“I wouldn’t wanna treat or be treated like I’m better than anyone else or like a superstar or anything like that.

“If you’ve known me and we’re friends, it’s super important to me that we’re just friends.”

His ambitions inside the cage, however, have prompted a recent change outside it.

Nolan, who is on a five-fight win streak, recently relocated to New Zealand to join City Kickboxing, a move he describes as one of the best decisions of his life.

“It’s a beautiful country, and it’s the best team in the world,” he said.

“I’m loving every second of training. Dedicated coaches, awesome training partners, huge facility, never ending opportunity to train.

“It is the next level. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

For Nolan, the move was an opportunity to make improvements he knew his game needed.

“The upgrades that I’ve added in to my game are something that were super necessary for me to do, and who better to go to?” he said.

“These guys are absolute experts.”

Moicano now presents the biggest test of Nolan’s career, with the Queensland southpaw also preparing to go five rounds for the first time in the UFC.

“You have to be fitter, but I think also you have to have a game plan that can also handle five rounds,” he said.

His growing confidence comes from experience, too.

Each fight has taught him something, from training and cutting weight to handling media commitments and finding his way around Sin City.

“Every single time I do this, I’m just a little bit more comfortable,” he said.

“I’m a little more familiar.”

Even knowing how to organise his food and navigate the hotels helps remove some of the uncertainty.

“I think it’s just a combination of really hard work and experience,” he said.

Then there is the toughness developed on the footy field.

With Alexander Volkanovski, Carlos Ulberg, Robert Whittaker, Jack Della Maddalena and Tai Tuivasa all having played rugby league, Nolan was asked whether footy might be the ideal grounding for a future fighter.

He was happy to back the theory – before widening the field.

“I think just being Aussie is the best base for MMA to be honest,” he grinned.

“Or being an Anzac, I should say, because the Kiwis, they’re also tough as.”

As for “Big Train”, that started with a childhood session on the UFC video game.

Creating a character, Nolan was scrolling through the available nicknames when a mate spotted one that suited.

“Big Train was an option,” Nolan recalled.

“My mate said that suited me because of Thomas the Tank Engine.”

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The name stuck at school. When Nolan signed up for his first fight and was asked to supply a fight name, he simply gave them what his mates called him.

“And then that was it from that moment forward,” he said.

Now the nickname they picked in a video game sits at the top of a UFC card.