Jason Nolf reacts after loss at UFC BJJ: Road to the Title

Jason Nolf fell short of his goal of becoming the first UFC BJJ champion at welterweight. The former Penn State wrestling star competed in UFC BJJ: Road to the Title for the promotion’s inaugural reality show and tournament for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Nolf, while still raw in the sport, transitioned from fully wrestling to jiu jitsu following the 2024 Olympic Trials. He’s seen some early success in his BJJ career and has been giving a platform with the UFC and previously competed in the Craig Jones Invitational last August, losing to eventual champion Tye Tuotolo. During UFC BJJ: Road to the Title, Nolf lost in the welterweight semifinals to No. 1 seed Andrew Tackett.

“I’m a little sad the match didn’t really go exactly how I wanted,” Nolf said on the show following his first-round submission loss. “Obviously, definitely was not expecting to be that last minute replacement. Just a tactical error on my side. If I faced him again, I would just keep wrestling him. But, yeah that sucked.”

Nolf lost to Elijah Carlton in the quarterfinals by split decision over the course of a three-round fight. But, Carlton had to pull out of the tournament due to an arm injury, giving Nolf a second shot.

Despite winning the wrestling exchanges against Tackett, Nolf’s takedown attempt led Tackett to his back. The latter sunk in a rear naked choke and ended up winning the match by first round submission.

“Andrew Tackett, we live, I think, 10 minutes from each other in Austin,” Nolf said prior to the match. “So you know, he’s one of my good friends, somebody I see a lot, and I think it’s gonna be a quite a different match than what I saw in round one. It’s gonna be a really, really high energy match.”

Tackett, a career jiu jitsu practitioner and now 22 years old, took first place in the ADCC West Coast Trials in 2024, qualifying for the ADCC World Championships, long known as the most prestigious no-gi jiu jitsu tournament around the globe. He was also familiar with the grappling reality show format, taking 3rd place during FloGrappling’s Who’s Next back in 2022.

Nolf is coming off a decorated collegiate and senior level wrestling career while now going to jiu jitsu. At the senior level, Nolf won gold medals at the World Cup, Grand Prix (twice) and US National Championships (twice). 

While wrestling at 74 KG, Nolf regularly ran into former four-time NCAA champion and two-time Olympic Bronze Medalist Kyle Dake. Dake defeated Nolf in their best-of-three series at last year’s Olympic Trials and the 2023 and ‘22 World Team Trials. They also faced off in the 2020 Olympic Trials, won by Dake, who trained with Nolf at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

In college, Nolf was virtually unstoppable at Penn State. He went 133-4 in his career, winning three NCAA titles in a row (2017-19) while finishing second as a freshman in 2016.