Nikolas Motta is broke.
After having terrible luck with fight cancelations, Motta (12-3) finally makes his anticipated debut this weekend at UFC Vegas 48. He competed and won a UFC contract on season four of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020, where he defeated Joesph Lowry via unanimous decision, but has been looking for a fight for a while.
The Brazilian has been scheduled to fight three times since his contract-winning performance. He was scheduled against Damir Hadzović, Cameron VanCamp, and Jim Miller, but injuries and COVID halted those match-ups.
Because of the lack of activity, Motta has taken a big hit financially. However, he hopes to be much more active in 2022.
“Yeah, I definitely don’t want to be not fighting for a year. I’m broke as fu*k, and I live in America now. I better make money,” Motta told reporters during his UFC Vegas 48 media day interview.
Motta takes on Jim Miller in his UFC debut. The Brazilian respects the UFC veteran and says it is an honor to fight such a legend. Fighting legends is what he wants to do.
“I think it’s a blessing to fight Jim Miller because I remember growing up as a teenager watching legends like Jim Miller and dreaming about fighting in Japan, Europe, United States. Jim Miller is a legend; I respect him a lot; that’s all I dreamt about my whole life, to fight legendary guys like that. I know he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame soon, 40 fights in the UFC, he’s a fu*king beast,” Motta said.
“Most of my career was in New Jersey like I lived in New Jersey for 3 1/2 years, and I trained with Frankie Edgar and guys like that… I got into the UFC after becoming champion of Cage Fury, which is the No. 1 promotion on the East Coast. It’s a nice coincidence that I’m fighting an East Coast legend. He’s a UFC legend, MMA legend, and an East Coast Legend, and now it’s my time.”
Watch the entire UFC Vegas 48 Media Scrum with Nikolas Motta above. The event takes place this Saturday, February 19, 2022 at the Apex in Las Vegas, NV.
