Nolan Whalen comments on Ultimate Fighting Champion, Mixed Martial Arts
Written by Eric A Thomas
Photos/Submitted to The Source
It’s one thing to voice your opinion with family and friends, but sharing it to the world of social media is a big step. A little over one year ago, Nolan Whalen embarked on a journey that is getting his opinion heard loud and clear.
An avid fan of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Champion) and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), Whalen has taken his knowledge of the sport and carved out a growing fan base among the various social media platforms.
“I started broadcasting in 2022 … my opinions on fights, predicting upcoming fights, sharing UFC news and sports betting perspective on each fight,” Whalen said. “I use platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.” His social media name is theparlaymma. Very quickly he noticed that his videos were getting an increase in viewership, so he started improving the production of his videos.
Once he improved his production and his viewership started to grow more, he established a private MMA group that requires a paid monthly membership. In the community, he gives out sports betting advice, data on fighters, fighter statistics and discord chat where members can communicate with each other about anything associated with MMA.
At the time of writing this article, Whalen is approaching 400 paid members and, at the rate of additional memberships, he looks forward to hitting the 1,000 mark of paid memberships.
Starting something like this forced Whalen to step out of his comfort zone and make his first video. “The first month or so, not many people were viewing my videos,” continued Whalen. “When I started being consistent with posting, I noticed my following increased.” It wasn’t long before his followers reached 1,000, and then a few months later, 10,000. Across all of his platforms, he has currently accumulated nearly 70,000 followers.
Even though MMA has deeper roots, it got its start in the United States in 1993. Currently, there are 721 active fighters on the UFC roster; 590 are male and 130 are female. The lightweight division (155 pounds) for males has the most competitors at 75 and the women’s strawweight division (competitors who weigh under 115 pounds) has the most at 40. The top five countries having fighters in the sport are United States, Brazil, Japan, United Kingdom and Canada.
This endeavor keeps him very busy. “I make predictions on 10 to 15 fights per week. Out of 10 fights I could predict 9 of them right but take a lot of grief for predicting one wrong,” he concluded. “I’m learning to deal with that.”
Another aspect is that it can be quite time consuming to create the videos. Each video takes a lot of research, editing and putting together the information, often in different podcast formats. Staying consistent and working hard has enabled Whalen to succeed and grow his brand.
Since Whalen started this, he has realized a dream. He had never been to live MMA fights — and in the last 10 months, he has been to Orlando, Kansas City and Las Vegas for fights — with plans to attend a few more fights before the end of January.
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Whalen is a graduate of Routt Catholic High School. Growing up, he participated in multiple sports and became a fan of MMA fighting while in college. When not working on social media, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Baxie, and their sons, Crew and Wells. Sometimes he sneaks away on a Sunday for a round of golf.
