Tommy McMillen made his promotional debut at UFC Vegas 115, knocking out Manolo Zecchini in the first round and scoring a $100,000 performance bonus
in the process.That’s a pretty good start for McMillen, who trains alongside Sean O’Malley and has been hyped by the former bantamweight champ as a future contender for UFC gold. And as you’d expect from a buddy of “Suga,” McMillen is not humble when speaking about his chances of winning a belt.
“I’m living player one mode in my life and my dream fight
is whoever has the f–king belt when I’m there and ready to get it,” he said at the post-fight press conference. “And I think that’s going to be a lot quicker than most people realize. We’ll be there soon.”
In a perfect world, McMillen sees himself holding gold at 145 with O’Malley regaining his title at 135.
“I know he wanted to fight Petr Yan at the White House,” McMillen said. “He’s the guy that beat Petr Yan. He has a bad style that I don’t think is really good for Petr Yan. I think he ends up fighting Petr Yan soon, gets his belt back, and I’ll be ready for the belt next year, 100%.”
For now, though, the next step is upgrading from the Meta Apex to a proper arena.
“I literally fight to give people pure entertainment,” McMillen declared. “I’m a modern day gladiator and I enjoy this s–t. So, 100% I would love to fight in the T-Mobile Arena. I love Vegas. I’m a gambler. I’m going to go hit the blackjack table tonight, eat some pizza, hit the clubs, pop some bottles. I love Vegas. This is where I’m meant to fight.”
Based on the response he got during his fight, Vegas loves McMillen right back. And while he’ll need to beat better opposition before we get on his bandwagon, it’s clear Tommy has the same swagger that made “Suga” so popular during his rise.
