Thicknesse chasing own UFC dream

It was at last year's Wollongong Wars at the iconic venue and the 20-year-old was fighting in front of a home crowd somehow made more raucous by his entrance to the cage to 'I Want it That Way'.

Then, seconds after the cage door shut, Thicknesse was on his back after copping a head kick that would end most fights - in a cage or out of it. It also left him sporting a cut that would make even the hardest men squrim.

"The memory's a bit foggy, as it would be," Thicknesse says.

"I love to have fun. I'm angry for eight weeks when I'm training and getting ready but, once I'm there, I get to do what I love, I get to fight.

"I had the fun walkout to Backstreet Boys and I felt good but I didn't set things up enough and I shot in too early and he caught me with that head kick.

"I just remember coming to on the ground with him on my back and thinking 'whoah, I don't remember getting here'."

Remarkably, he didn't just get back up, he arguably edged the rest of the round. He won the following two in even more convincing fashion en route to a unanimous decision win.

"I remember getting up, that's when I realised I was split," Thicknesse said.

"I just had to work through it. That's where my wrestling came in, even though I was on my back I felt composed there. I got back in the corner and Jo [Lopez] and Alex [Volkanovski] just told me what to do.

"I took in as much information as I could, came out and stuck the game plan and won the next two rounds comfortably."

A multiple-time national wrestling and jiu-jitsu champion, Thicknesse boasts an unquestionable pedigree, but the performance showed something else.

In the fight game it's what they call ' the intangibles', qualities inherent more than ingrained.

"You can be talented, you can build strength, but you can't teach heart," UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski says.

Thicknesse has it, among other qualities. More than anything else, though, he just loves to fight, so much so he can barely crack a frown for those weigh-in photos.

It goes back as far as he can remember, to when his dad got so tired of Thicknesse and his brother tearing through the house that he decided they could tear down the local PCYC instead.

"My dad used to do freestyle wrestling and my brother and I were just always fighting at home," Thicknesse said.

"We were playing footy twice a week but it just wasn't enough so he decided to take us down to the PCYC so we could wrestle there instead of at home.

"We went pretty well, we both won state and national titles, I was undefeated for five years. I ended up giving up footy and I was still wrestling two days a week.

"I wanted something else to do so I started to coming to Freestyle [Fighting Gym] when I was 12. I was with Jo for six months before I left wrestling and started doing this fulltime."

With a fair swag of jiu-jitsu medals also in his kit, the 20-year-old is part of a new breed of fighters - skilled in multiple disciplines - who've grown up in the sport.

It's the biggest change coach Lopez has seen in MMA since opening Freestyle Fighting Gym a decade ago at time when the only place you could find UFC pay-per-views was in the dark corners of Blockbuster or Civic Video.

Still, when it comes to fighting, some things never change. Skill set aside, Lopez says whatever it was that got his charge off the mat that night in the Snakepit is what sets him apart.

"He's got that fighting spirit," Lopez said.

"You could hit him in the head with a brick and he gets back up and still comes at it. He's tough and just very determined, the same as Alex was.

"His skill set's a lot better than Alex's was at the same point - Alex wasn't even training when he was that age so that shows you where it's at.

"The level of MMA in Australia has really grown. There's a lot of guy's who've started when they were really young and they've continued through.

"That's the new generation of MMA fighters, they've all got a really good foundation and skill set from the beginning.

"What's going to separate them is that determination and the will to win. That's what turns guys into champions and Colby has that, he's just so driven and determined to win."

Enough to follow in Volkanovski's footsteps?

"Our aim is to get him into the UFC which is every fighter's dream," Lopez said.

"It's happened once so I don't see why it can't happen again. He puts in the hard work, he's pretty committed, he's pretty sensible.

"If he keeps working like he does, there's no reason he can't."

For his part, Volkanovski can see a lot of the same qualities that took him from lil' ol' Windang to the heights of the UFC.

It's part of of a shared purpose to build Freestyle into the premier MMA stable in the country.

"He's got a big future, he's only young and he's getting better and better every day, he's getting more and more comfortable, more composed," Volkanovski said.

"He's always been well-rounded, now he's starting to understand the game a little bit more and, as fights go on, he's just going to get better and better and better.

"He's still amateur is pretty scary. He's one of my main training partners already and that's the big thing, at the end of the day, we're just a couple of guys in the gym.

"When they're fighting we're all here helping them prepare for their fight. Everyone's got their own little story and their own goals and it's achievable for anyone in any gym.

"He's got that drive, he's smart, he's fit, he's eager to learn, he's committed. That's the type of person I am and you can see that in Colby as well."

The praise his high, but 'The Golden Boy' himself isn't getting ahead of himself as he continues to ply his trade in the amateur ranks.

Currently 5-1 - unbeaten at his natural bantamweight - he'll look to claim IMMAF Oceania title on Gold Coast in a weeks' time. From there, he'll look to claim his first world amateur title in Rome.

He'll then look a pro career and, while his approach is measured, he makes no secret of where his ultimate ambitions lie.

"I have aspirations for the very top," he said.

"When I was doing jiu-jitsu I established myself as one of the best blue belts in the country. After that I went to MMA so I always like to set myself goals and achieve them.

"I've already proved myself as one the best amateurs in the country. I want to prove I'm one of the best amateurs on an international level and then start back at the bottom as a pro like everyone has to.

"I've watched Alex do it. I want to work my way up the top of the pro ranks in Australia and then top of the pro ranks internationally."

It leaves the most pressing question: when he makes a UFC debut, will he be walking out to Backstreet Boys?

"I dunno, it didn't work too well the first time," he joked.

"I might have to test it again and see what happens. To be honest I probably will; you need to do something to get the crowd going."