If you want a prototype, look elsewhere. Scroll through Tapology and you’ll see the tattoos. You’ll see the cleanly-trimmed bears, yoked up biceps and nicknames like “Pitbull.”
Then you’ll come across Mandel Nallo and he’ll catch your eye.
“How many more MMA fighters profiles do you need to see where a guy has a nice haircut and a well-shaved beard and he’s hitting pads?” Nallo told MMA Junkie and other reporters after he earned a UFC contract at DWCS 80 on Tuesday. “You’ve seen it. You’ve seen it at the top level. Ilia Topuria, go to his profile. You don’t need to see the next guy’s, he’s the same.”
Nallo, 36, is not the same – he’s far from it. Just look no further than a quick knockout victory over Cage Warriors champion Samuel Sanches on Tuesday. He became the oldest fighter ever to earn a contract at DWCS.
“When it comes to stuff like this, I’m that guy,” Nallo said. “I will do something crazy. And I’m not crazy in my life. I hang around. I do nothing. I train. But when I’m in the cage, something is weird. Something mad happens. Like, have you guys seen a guy get chopped up with that front kick to the face? His leg is chopped up. It’s nuts.”
Long a well-kept secret at Tristar MMA in Montreal, Nallo competed in Bellator from 2017 to 2023, but only competed eight times in those six years. Inactivity, against his own will, has been one story of his career. Uncertainty has loomed, perhaps never more than when he departed Bellator and it was back to the regional scene.
“It’s the uncertainty because when you’re not in a major, the world is rough, especially right now,” Nallo said. “The MMA game is tough out there. And for a guy who is skilled, nobody wants to fight you. The money is rough. So it’s a testament to my coaches, my team and my family for sticking with me through that. Because I’m going to do the work. That’s easy for me. That’s what I love to do. People truly supporting and believing in me through these years has been something you could never, never even come close to paying back.”
Now that he’s on the UFC roster, 19 years after his amateur debut, Nallo knows he doesn’t have all the time in the world. He’s eager to debut ASAP – perhaps in his home city if the UFC will let him.
“I told Dana, ‘Run me. I want to work,'” Nallo said. “… Oct. 18 in Vancouver, I was born there. I will fight there for sure. That’s the plan, just to work as hard as I can to get to where I want to be.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: ‘Rat Garbage’: Quirky new UFC signee explains captivating differences
