GREAT FALLS — Just days after a dream UFC debut, Great Falls native Tommy McMillen returned home Friday night to a packed Buffalo Wild Wings, where dozens of fans lined up for autographs, photos and a chance to celebrate one of the city’s own.
The three-time Great Falls High state wrestling champion came back to town one week after a first-round finish in his UFC debut, a moment he said felt like the realization of something he had envisioned for years.
“There’s no better place to come after my UFC debut than Great Falls, Montana,” McMillen said. “I was born and raised here for the first 18 years of my life. To come back and talk to some of the kids, sign some pictures and show some of the other local MMA fighters coming up out of Montana what’s possible — no better feeling.”
WATCH: McMillen returns to Great Falls after UFC debut
McMillen said one of his biggest motivations in returning home is showing young athletes from smaller communities that they can chase big goals.
“I just want to show the kids that if I could do something with my life coming from a small place like Great Falls, they could do the same as well,” McMillen said. “Follow your dreams and do what makes you happy.”
That message carried extra meaning for his father, Joe McMillen, who has coached Tommy since he was three years old and said the signs were there early.
Joe said Tommy stood out not just in combat sports, but in nearly everything he tried.
“He was a phenomenal athlete. He was very successful in any sport we did,” Joe said. “I coached him in wrestling, boxing, soccer. He was a phenomenal soccer player, just a great athlete.”
When Tommy began training in Joe’s gym as a kid, that talent quickly translated to fighting.
“He was down at my gym training with adults. He wasn’t even 100 pounds yet,” Joe said. “He was in middle school, and he was actually whooping some of the best fighters I had in my gym. He was just a kid, so I knew he was something special for sure.”
The meet-and-greet also coincided with Fusion Fight League weigh-ins ahead of Saturday’s card at Four Seasons Arena.
McMillen is expected to be in the corner for Valier’s Ty Curry and Butte’s Kyler Raiha, two Montana fighters who now train with him at Red Hawk Academy in Arizona. The gym, led by Great Falls native Tim Welch and also home to Helena’s Sean O’Malley, has become a growing pipeline for Montana MMA talent.
McMillen said helping younger fighters is another big reason he wanted to make the trip back.
“That’s another big reason why I came up, just to try to give back and help out some of the young and upcoming fighters,” he said.
McMillen returned to Great Falls as a UFC winner. And this weekend, he’ll look to help two more Montana fighters follow that same blueprint.
