UFC 305 debutant Stewart Nicol recently reflected on his childhood growing up in the Solomon Islands, which was then in turmoil.
The Solomon Islands fell into political and ethnic turmoil in the late ’90s, culminating in a coup in 2000 and a continued string of violence including rape, murder, torture and kidnapping. Nicol’s family was caught in the middle of it all, but the unbeaten flyweight boxer, who makes his UFC debut this weekend, remembers little of the trauma. He vividly remembers his father setting off in a dugout canoe off the coast of the Solomon Islands, not knowing if he’d ever return.
“My memory isn’t that great, I forget things all the time,” Nicole told Fox Sports Australia, “but the image of my dad leaving is burned into my mind. It feels like yesterday. I might have been asleep the rest of the time.”
The reason Nicole’s father left home was because dangerous men were seeking revenge on his family. After a period of island-hopping, the rest of Nicole’s family arrived in Brisbane, Australia.
“There were riots, our house was burned, and at one point they let all the prisoners loose and armed them with guns. It was crazy. It was dangerous for us,” Nicole said. “In the midst of all this chaos, it seemed like there were people targeting our family. They were looking for revenge or something. I was six years old at the time and didn’t know anything. But years later, one of my friends told me, [extended] Apparently a family member had done something and we as a family had to suffer as a result. It was like a ritual. An eye for an eye. It was all becoming too dangerous on the mainland, so we fled. We started island hopping. First we took a very dangerous little plane just to get to my grandmother’s island. From there, my father took a canoe and eventually we all got on a plane to Brisbane.”
The family first settled in Redcliffe, Australia, before returning to the Solomon Islands for three years in 2003. They eventually returned to Australia, settling in Queensland, where Nicole began to dabble in various sports during high school: she had two uncles living downstairs from her parents’ house, one a boxer and the other a street fighter, who introduced her to mixed martial arts.
UFC 305: du Plessis vs. Adesanya airs Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order your copy now! When one of them brought home a DVD of the legendary Emelianenko Fedor defeating Hong Man Choi, Nicol was immediately intrigued by the age-old tale of the smaller man dominating the bigger man, a story that has inspired many great MMA fighters.
“Just being around them and watching them hit the bags at home or do cartwheels and somersaults in the backyard, I was immediately intrigued… and then he [Emelianenko] “The moment I beat that seven-foot giant, I fell in love,” Nicol says. “Soon, I started watching more and more of Fedor’s fights, and even though he was undersized for his weight class, he kept winning — and winning in spectacular fashion. So I quickly realized that this sport was real and that I needed to learn it. Apart from the self-defense aspect, everything seemed very beautiful to me.”
Nicol made his MMA debut in 2018 and has since won seven of his eight career fights. Nicol is excited to make his promotional debut in his hometown this weekend against Mexico’s Jesus Santos Aguilar at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. Nicol can’t wait to get some UFC merchandise with his name on it for his father, who bears his name. Nicol believes it’s his exotic style that makes him a threat to many fighters at 125 pounds.
“I’m actually a fourth-generation Stewart Nicol, so I’d like to hand over some of my gear to my dad… I think my style is going to really give people trouble,” he said. “There aren’t many guys who can grapple and dominate on the ground and TKO their opponents, maybe a handful. Of course, I need to gain experience and get a feel for the bright lights, but I play a different game than most guys and I think that’s going to be a problem for anyone in this weight class.”
