From Sparring Partner to Viral Sensation: Colby Thicknesse’s Rise

Emotional Crute pumped to be back | 01:58

He has already had a front-row seat to the rise of an all-time UFC legend and now, after spending over a decade training with Alexander Volkanovski, Colby Thicknesse is ready to follow in the footsteps of his famed mentor.

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Of course, it would be unfair to expect Thicknesse to replicate anything close to the kind of run Volkanovski went on as he tore his way through the featherweight division all the way to the top of the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.

After all, Thicknesse is just grateful to be here. He wasn’t expecting to be making his UFC debut on a pay-per-view event this soon, or at least without having to first earn his way onto a card through either the Contender’s Series or an Apex event.

But how could the UFC turn down the opportunity to hand Thicknesse his debut against Aleksandre Topuria, the younger brother of the same man who ended Volkanovski’s long reign at 145 pounds?

Thicknesse is leaning into the theatre of it all after what he described as a “whirlwind of two weeks”, having first found out he was in line for his UFC debut at Qudos Bank Arena while listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 during a security shift.

“It’s just been crazy, it’s just been chaotic,” the bantamweight prospect said on Wednesday at media day.

Thicknesse took the fight on short notice following the late withdrawal of fellow Australian Cody Haddon, although according to Volkanovski that is nothing to worry about for Thicknesse.

“When you’re talking about short notice and that, there’s certain people that can just, they’re fit all year round and he’s one of them,” Volkanovski told Main Event’s Niko Pajarillo.

“There’s people that, it doesn’t matter when they can put up a fight every single day of the year, even if they’re coming off injury, whatever it is. They’re fit and he’s fit.”

Volkanovski would know too. Thicknesse has spent the last seven years as his main sparring partner.

The 25-year-old told foxsports.com.au on Wednesday that he has been like a “sponge” training alongside Volkanovski, who he first met while wrestling with his brother in his early teenage years.

“I remember them coming in and just getting into it,” Volkanovski said.

“They used to beat each other up and then it wasn’t long after that that he was pretty much one of my main training partners, that’s how long he’s been committed to this and working hard with it, so it’s pretty cool.”

Thicknesse and his brother started amateur wrestling at the local PCYC at six years old, winning state and national titles before he made the switch to Freestyle MMA under Joe Lopez at 13.

From there he started working more closely with Volkanovski. Thicknesse was a part of the former featherweight champion’s team on The Ultimate Fighter 29 and also travelled with Volkanovski to Vegas for his UFC 260 fight against Brian Ortega, which was later cancelled.

In other words, he has seen first-hand what it takes to be a UFC champion and for someone like Thicknesse, it is “very reassuring”.

“Because when I started I was 12 and there was maybe one Australian in the UFC, no world champions, nobody at the highest level,” he said.

“And then to be training alongside him and see his rise from a 2-0 pro to coming off his first loss, to winning Australian titles, winning the Tiger Muay Thai title, getting world titles at PXC, getting signed to UFC, all the doubt even when he got signed, to become a world champ, going for double champ, cementing himself as the pound-for-pound number one when he did it.

“It’s just incredible, it just shows that if you’re willing to put in hard work, what you want to achieve can be done in your home gym.”

You don’t have to tell Thicknesse that though. From a broken back to a torn intercostal and, more recently, torn ligaments in his knee — the 25-year-old has had his fair share of injuries throughout his MMA career.

In fact, in his fight against Sem Kakembo at Eternal MMA 70 on the Gold Coast, Thicknesse was coming off a 22-month layoff due to injuries. He doesn’t remember much from that fight.

Well, he does remember getting hit.

“With something big,” he said.

And then?

“There’s flashes of the fight,” Thicknesse added.

Which explains why, when the fight finished, Thicknesse went over to Lopez and the rest of his corner ready for the next two rounds, only to be told it was all over and that he’d fought “a winner”.

“I guess just off all the hard training all the instincts just sort of paid off. So I was just on autopilot that whole fight but I still managed to get it done,” Thicknesse said.

It wasn’t the only time Kakembo dropped him. Three times, in fact. Twice in that fight on the Gold Coast, when Kakembo hit him with a kick flush to the face and then a brutal pair of knees to the body, and then another time earlier in his career when he was an amateur.

Thicknesse remembers more about that fight, including the song he walked out to — ‘I Want It That Way’ by Backstreet Boys.

“I just loved it. It was just a gee-up,” Thicknesse said, recalling the decision to switch things up after he suffered the first loss of his amateur career in his previous fight, which he took at late notice.

He also remembers being dropped, again, just a few seconds after the music turned off and the cage door shut.

He didn’t walk out to that song again.

“After that I changed to techno dance walkouts,” he laughed, with Skin On Skin’s ‘Burn Dem Bridges’ already locked in for Sunday’s fight.

But Thicknesse still found a way to win that fight and throughout his pro career, he has continued to find a way.

Whether he has been “sick as a dog”, gone into a fight with “pretty significant injuries” or even not been able to “eat or drink or rehydrate properly”, Thicknesse has turned up.

Which makes this Sunday’s fight an even bigger opportunity for the 25-year-old, who couldn’t feel any better as he prepares to realise his UFC dream.

It is his dream, but in some ways, it is also a dream he has shared with 3.5 million other people.

You see, Thicknesse is prolific in the MMA community on Reddit, although his most popular post, which received 64,000 upvotes, is actually on the Tinder subreddit.

Thicknesse posted a message to one girl where he said he saw her in an aisle at Woolworths the other day — and it worked. So, did he go on the date?

“Nah, nah nah,” he laughed.

“Just got me the upvotes.”

But Thicknesse also got plenty of those by sharing his experiences as an up-and-coming fighter with the rest of the MMA world, including the news that he would making his UFC debut.

“It’s just reassuring to know people back you and believe in you,” he said.

“Obviously always your friends and your family and teammates, they’re going to back you, but to have random strangers, especially since this fight got announced, I’ve got people from Georgia, Spain, all across the world, reaching out, sending me their best wishes.”

There has been a fair mix of hate too that has been sent Thicknesse’s way since the fight was announced on social media, but for him it just means his name is getting out there.

“It’s all engagement at the end of the day,” he said.

Thicknesse was at his charismatic best at the UFC’s media day on Wednesday, whether it was joking that his moustache was “25 years of hard work” or that he was “very worried” Volkanovski would steal his fight given it was on short notice.

Even when he was asked if he knew what a win on Sunday would mean for his contract status with the UFC, a refreshingly honest Thicknesse admitted he didn’t know.

“I’m actually not exactly sure how the contract works out,” he said.

“I’m a fighter, so I’m not smart enough to understand it all. I think there’s something in there if I win, they still get me.”

Whether it is the traditional mainstream media or social media platforms like Reddit, Thicknesse is embracing the new platform he has.

“It’s essential,” he said.

“That’s why I don’t get why more people aren’t happy to do this media and stuff. Like at the end of the day, the way I will make my career in fighting is, firstly I’ve got to fight and I’ve got to win, secondly I’ve got to get as many eyes on me as possible.

“So if people are neglecting these different social networks or they’re not being themselves in front of a camera because they don’t want to do it or they don’t feel comfortable, I think it’s a way you’re taking money out of your pocket.

“Realistically I’ve only got 10 to 15 years in this game where I can make all the money I can, so any opportunity I can get some more eyes on me, get some more hype.

“I’m just going to lean into it.”

Just like Thicknesse has been leaning into the storyline of exacting revenge for Volkanovski this Sunday when he fights Topuria’s brother in the first fight on the preliminary card.

But at the same time, as much as Aleksandre has warned Thicknesse against being too obsessed with “revenge”, the 25-year-old still isn’t losing sight of what this opportunity represents for him as well.

“Without a doubt, this is the biggest opportunity I could possibly get for my debut,” Thicknesse said.

“There’s a built-in narrative with it and I get to fight on a (numbered event) and open up the prelims against a very hyped opponent that has a lot of support. I’m coming in with just as much support from Australia, so I really can’t wait to go out there.”