"I'm the f*cking people's champ, bro."
It's Tommy McMillen's game, and he's playing it his way.
This year has been a star-building campaign for McMillen (12-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who picked up his third win in 2026 by winning a unanimous decision over Marwan Rahiki on the main card at Noche UFC, which took place at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. Many thought the fight would be a wild scrap, and it perhaps exceeded those expectations.
"Love or hate me, I give the people what they pay for," McMillen said during a post-fight news conference (h/t Cageside Press). "Who else is f*cking going out there, breaking a world record, cashing $100K bonus, and then turn around seven weeks later to go fight a dude with 100 percent knockout finish rate? Show
me another kid willing to do that, bro. I'm that f*cking kid. I like to fight, and I had the time of my life tonight.
"... I'm just on a different level, and I'm writing the script right now. This is my f*cking movie. I'm a f*cking real-life Grand Theft Auto player. I'm f*cking playing a video game, bro, and everybody's in my world. They're calling me out, this is my f*cking game right now. I'm running laps around these kids."
Rahiki (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) gave McMillen a stern test during the Fight of the Night-winning bout. McMillen was rocked, dropped, and bloodied – but it didn't matter. Just when it seemed Rahiki had fight-changing momentum, McMillen just kept marching forward. The self-proclaimed "West-side Peoria gangster" stated that next time an opponent would have to bring a real weapon into the cage to stop him.
"Nobody else is eating shots like that, standing right back up, get in his face, you know?" McMillen said. "I know the game I play, bro. This is a f*cking tough sport. I'm trying to fight dudes at the highest level. Nowadays, there's a lot of f*cking killers in this game. That's the kind of fights I love. I don't like fighting bums, bro. I don't like fighting dudes with half-even records, you know? Give me the kid like Marwan that's got a 100 percent knockout finish rate.
"Everybody's saying I'm gonna get knocked out and chinned, bro. That's the sh*t that f*cking just makes me feel alive. I had so much fun in there tonight. I knew that motherf*cker couldn't knock me out. Bro, you can't knock me out; you gotta kill me. Bring a gun in there next time; you'll have better luck. You're not gonna knock me out."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: 'Real-life Grand Theft Auto player' Tommy McMillen declares himself 'people's champ'
