'I feel like I'm a modern-day rockstar': Inside the meteoric rise of Tommy 'Gun' McMillen — SkimNews
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- Tommy "Gun" McMillen (11-0) earned his UFC contract with a come-from-behind win on Dana White's Contender Series last fall and has since posted two finishes inside the Octagon at age 28, calling his trajectory "unfolding just like I knew it would."
- McMillen broke Nate Diaz's long-standing UFC record for most significant strikes landed in a three-round bout when he outbrawled Alberto Montes at UFC Fight Night in Oklahoma City two months ago.
- McMillen enters Saturday's Noche UFC bout at Glendale's Desert Diamond Arena (5 p.m. ET, Paramount+) as a small betting favorite against fellow undefeated knockout artist Marwan "Freaky" Rahiki (9-0), with a win vaulting him from prospect to 145-pound contender in just five months on the UFC roster.
- Sean O'Malley first met McMillen when McMillen was a cocky, undefeated 14-year-old and O'Malley was an 18-year-old amateur in Montana; years later, the now-UFC bantamweight champion became the first champion to corner McMillen under the Red Hawk Academy banner alongside coach Tim Welch.
- After winning his pro debut in 2019, McMillen didn't take a second professional fight until 2023 — a four-year gap he spent training under O'Malley and funding his career by scaling a solar panel sales team of 25–30 employees that generated six figures.
- Joe McMillen, a former semi-pro boxer who opened Great Falls' first MMA gym, put his son in amateur wrestling at age 3 and youth boxing at 6; Tommy finished Great Falls High School as a three-time Montana state champion with a 29-0 senior season at 160 pounds.
Why it matters: Saturday's bout is a litmus test for the hype: a win pushes McMillen from prospect to 145-pound contender five months into his UFC career, while a loss fuels detractors who argue his reckless pressure style and unproven opposition make him a flash-in-the-pan entertainer rather than a legitimate title threat in the division.
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