Athletes
Nikolas Motta | Ready Wherever, Whenever
Nikolas Motta Is Exuding Confidence And Is Prepared To Take On Azerbaijan's Statesman In Nazim Sadykhov At UFC Fight Night: Hill vs Rountree Jr. On June 21, 2025
When you’re 32 years old, on a two-fight winning streak in the UFC and have weathered the storms that come along with fighting the best in the world in the biggest promotion in the sport, someone can start feeling a certain way.
How does Nikolas Motta feel going into his Saturday bout against Nazim Sadykhov?
Well, he sent me a meme shortly after our interview concluded. It was the late Val Kilmer, playing Doc Holliday in Tombstone, with the caption “I’m in my prime.”
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‘Nuff said.
“It feels like that,” Motta said, right before we started talking Doc Holiday and Tombstone. “I feel like maybe sometimes people will underestimate me because of my past - my first UFC fights and when I was still not doing so well. It happened to Tom Nolan. He underestimated me.”
And Australia’s “Big Train” got halted in 63 seconds by Motta in January of last year. That was the beginning of a two-fight win streak for the Brazilian, who is coming off a decision victory over Maheshate in November that lifted his UFC slate to 3-2 with 1 NC. So if it looks like things are coming together for “Iron” Motta, he believes it to be so.
“I know it's not going to be an easy fight,” he said of this weekend’s matchup with Sadykhov.“But I think I'm going to make the best of it and I'm going to give everything to win. Most important, I know that it's going to be the best performance of my life. And that's what the UFC wants to see.”
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It’s clear that confidence is high for Motta, who has continued his Ronin-esque ways by traveling to Phuket, Thailand for this training camp. He worked there with the Hickman brothers for the first time after the Nolan fight, and when the opportunity arose to spend a full camp there, he was all over it.
“There’s everything here that we need,” said Motta. “I came over and I was like, the first month's going to be getting in shape. Then I asked for a fight. And when they offered me a fight, it was just after this first month and so I had good time to prepare. I feel ready, and I think you guys are going to see the best version of myself because I'm in great shape.”
And it’s a fight that was seemingly destined to happen, not just in the UFC, but back on the regional scene when the pair were in the CFFC promotion. Better late than never, but it is good timing, with Motta on a roll, and Sadykhov fighting in his home country of Azerbaijan with an unbeaten UFC record. And stylistically, it’s a can’t miss.
“It seems like the UFC really wants to see that fight,” said Motta. “And this style really matchesup to be a big show, a big performance.”
As for the judges getting involved and favoring the hometown hero, Motta is unconcerned about such matters.
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“I’m not worried because since I started fighting when I moved to America, I always would fight at the guy's hometowns,” said the newly minted U.S. citizen, who knows that, in the UFC, winning matters, but the performance matters too.
“Winning is very important, but I know that for the UFC, what matters is the show and the performance,” said Motta. “If I go there and I deliver an amazing performance, even if they rob me, the UFC will still like me and respect me and they're going to treat me well. And I want to make my boss happy. He wants me to go fight in China, okay. He wants me to go fight in Baku, okay. He wants me to go fight on Mars…”
Okay. Spoken like Doc Holliday. Have fists, will travel.
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