Following a successful wrestling career at Palm Springs High School, Nolan Joya Ticman was set on proving himself at the collegiate level when he committed to Cal State Fullerton as an invited walk-on to the program.
It was the fall of 2006, and everything was going according to the freshman’s plans. Cal State Fullerton had a reputation of producing good wrestlers and Ticman was intent on proving himself within the 133-pound division.
“Everything was going fine,” Ticman remembered. “I was strong, and my wrestling was better than it ever had been.”
Half-way through the season, everything changed when a teammate shot in at his leg for a takedown, but Ticman’s foot didn’t pivot while trying to defend. What followed was the most agonizing pain he had ever felt.
Ticman suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, officially cutting his freshman season short.
It was clear to him from the moment he felt the four or five pops in his knee that he was done.
“I felt them really deep inside the knee,” Ticman recalled. “I almost kind of knew it was over. I went to the trainers after practice and knew right when he tested it that it was done.”
The next six months would be a challenge. He couldn’t do anything for the first two weeks, as he was confined to a bed. It was hell for someone who was used to being active and always working towards becoming the best.
Finally, after the six months of grueling rehab, he began to regain full motion in his knee. But by that point all the power and explosiveness he had built up during the season was gone. The thought of having to catch up to his teammates changed his mindset, and he lost the drive to wrestle.
He thought long and hard about returning to the team. He knew the drive wasn’t there, yet he realized the experience of competing collegiately wasn’t something that could be easily replaced.
He decided to return to the team and picked up his gear to begin training. But two days later he walked into Head Coach Dan Hicks’ office and informed him that he had a change of heart and would not be returning to the team.
“Going back to coach was a hard thing,” Ticman said. “He asked me how I felt knowing that that was it.”
“It was a bad feeling at first, having it been something I committed to for five years,” He said.
Ticman wasn’t giving up wrestling without reason. During his rehab he had been exposed to something new. Something he would fall in love with almost from the start.
While he was wrestling, his older brother, Nate had become a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and Ticman was convinced to try it out after he had recovered from the ACL injury.
After trying it a couple of times, he was certain that it was something he wanted to pursue. The drive he had lost with wrestling had comeback with his new found love.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that he could excel at the sport. It was a natural transition coming from a wrestling background.
“I didn’t know anything about jiu-jitsu,” Ticman said. “It was something new, but I started turning the corner and developing all types of submissions and working the guard.”
“I was able to convert, yet still retain the base of the hips I had learned in wrestling.”
He began entering all kinds of grappling and submission tournaments, taking home first place numerous times.
But Ticman wasn’t satisfied with only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He knew there was a bigger rush out there; something that presented an even bigger challenge.
Ticman began training at Coachella Valley Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Palm Desert, Calif., and when local cage fights were being organized. He stepped up to the challenge immediately.
“When these fights came up I decided ‘hey, I want to take this’,” Ticman said. “I had a good wrestling background, and my jiu-jitsu was getting good, so I agreed to step up and get in the cage.”
He had to come in well-prepared for his opponent. He knew that if he was going to be able to survive the sport he had to come in ready for anything; otherwise the chances of being knocked out, submitted or simply dominated ran high.
That wouldn’t sit well with someone who is accustomed to giving it his all.
He immediately began training. He not only worked on submissions, but his striking. This was his induction into the world of mixed martial arts, a sportof diverse styles and techniques all brought together.
His trainers began implementing Muy Thai Kickboxing into his arsenal. He picked up quickly.
“It was crazy how natural it all came to me,” Ticman said.
Although it came naturally to the former Titan wrestler, stepping into the cage was a different beast all together. Neither wrestling nor Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu matches could compare to the world he was stepping in to. He had to come in ready not just physically, but mentally.
“You're mind just starts to race when you step in the cage,” Ticman said. “There are so many other factors you have to worry about."
Worrying about an opponent’s next move is usually the biggest concern, but it was the mental side of the fight that nearly got the best of him in his first professional fight.
“I kept telling myself to quit,” Ticman said. “I was coming up with excuses on why it would be okay to lose.”
“I had to snap out of that.”
He did.
Ticman dug deep within himself and regained his confidence to win a decision over his opponent. All the bad thoughts were gone once his hand was raised.
He had never felt as inspired by winning as he did at that point.
“It’s really the biggest rush I’ve ever had in my life,” Ticman said. “I had never pushed myself harder than with my first fight.”
The drive he had lost with wrestling, and which he later took to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, had come to the fight. He was back doing what he loved -- competing.
Although he trains regularly to improve his overall game, one of his biggest challenges has been finding fights that fit into his schedule.
Now a junior in college, he tries to set up his fights around the breaks so that he can focus all of his attention on training, while not affecting his grades.
“It’s very obvious that school has an effect on how I can train,” Ticman said.
He realizes that in order to reach the highest level and be the best, he has to make sacrifices. So instead of having fun and going out regularly like most of his friends, he’s in the gym getting stronger, working on his ground game, and polishing his stand-up.
The summer, winter, and spring break seasons are generally fun times for students but not for Ticman. Those are the times when he gets his best training done.
He had a fight set up in February that tied in well with his training. He spent winter break getting ready, but the promoter fell through, and there was no fight in the end. It left him in good shape, but not being able to put his skill to the test left a sense of unfinished business.
He hopes to fight sometime during the summer ---possibly in Alaska – and his training begin almost as soon the spring semester ends. Whether or not this fight goes through is uncertain, but he will be ready.
That’s one of the things about the sport of MMA; scheduled fights sometimes don’t happen for many reasons. Whether it’s money or injuries, there are times when a fighter will train for months only to find out that there will be no fight.
But he’s willing to deal with that.
Looking back, he knows he left behind a sport he loved. He’ll never be able to replace the experiences he gained from wrestling. But he has no regrets.
“I think everything turned out for the better,” Ticman said.
