Lake Illawarra fighter Colby Thicknesse scores golden ticket to UFC 312

Colby Thicknesse was in the middle of a 10-hour security shift when he got a life-changing WhatsApp message.

UFC star Aleksandre Topuria’s agent was on the other end of the phone.

“I passed it on to my coach Joe, went home, got in the sauna, and by 6 am on Sunday morning it was sorted,” Colby said.

“It’s been a wild couple of days; it all feels pretty surreal.”

The 25-year-old from Lake Illawarra began wrestling when he was six years old, alongside his twin brother and older sister.

The first time he saw a mixed martial arts fight he knew that was what he wanted to do.

After almost two decades of hard work Colby has his shot on the biggest promotion in the world.

Aleksandre Topuria, from Spain, was scheduled to fight Cody Haddon, from Perth, on the UFC 312 fight card in Sydney on Sunday, 9 February, before Cody suffered a broken foot.

Although it’s short notice for Colby as the replacement, he said he feels confident.

“I’ve been in fight camp for the past six weeks in case someone pulled out, so it feels familiar,” he said.

“It’s been a normal camp; I just found out who my opponent was later than usual.

“I respect Aleksandre, I respect his skills, but right now he’s just the guy standing in front of my goal to getting to the UFC.

“I’m going out there on Sunday to get the job done, get my hand raised and go on to the next one.”

Colby’s confidence in himself is well placed.

He fights out of Freestyle MMA in Windang with former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, under coach Joe Lopez.

Alex was the second-ever Australian to hold a UFC title after Robert Whittaker.

Colby credited Joe’s coaching and the culture at Freestyle for bringing him into the cage.

“I walked into Freestyle when I was 13, and Joe treats everyone equally,” Colby said.

“The way he treats me is the way he treats Alex is the way he treats someone who’s walked in on their first day.

“He instills an incredible work ethic. You can’t walk into a gym anywhere in the world and see people train as hard as us.”

Now all the hard work is done – at least for this round – Colby has the bright lights and the roar of the crowd to look forward to.

“I’ve spent all these years training and fighting is the fun part,” he said.

“As soon as I walk in there, I get to do what I find most fun in life.”