Tom Nolan messaged Cory Sandhagen after studying the bantamweight contender’s techniques.

UFC Vegas 123 sees Nolan get his first main event spotlight in the lightweight headliner at the Meta Apex.

The surging contender has put together five consecutive wins inside the Octagon, with Nolan recently joining City Kickboxing during his preparations.

It has been three years since the Australian earned his spot on the roster with an impressive knockout, which he recently reflected on.

Do you think Tom Nolan has the potential to be a future title challenger?

Tom Nolan told Cory Sandhagen that he’d win his UFC contract with one of the bantamweight star’s techniques

Tom Nolan was just 5-0 in his pro career when he got the opportunity to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series back in 2023.

The lightweight contender recently revealed that his preparations to face Bogdan Grad with a contract on the line were aided by a former UFC title challenger.

Nolan was able to add some extra weapons to his arsenal before the biggest opportunity of his career by watching tutorials posted by Cory Sandhagen.

“It’s funny, I actually messaged Cory before my Contender Series knockout,” Nolan said in an interview with UFC on Paramount+. “I was studying his, he’s got an online course. I messaged him and said, ‘Hey, I’m fighting on Contender Series in two weeks and I’m going to knock this dude out with one of your techniques’ and I actually used the ‘dart shot’ that he teaches. So, it was pretty crazy.”

Sandhagen has eight knockout wins on his record and is highly regarded for his well-rounded his skillset is in all areas.

‘The Sandman’ regularly gives fans insight into his thought process by breaking down fights and posting various technique courses on his YouTube channel.

After studying Sandhagen’s videos, Nolan went on to stop Grad in just 83 seconds to guarantee that Dana White would be offering him a spot on the UFC roster.