Despite almost every UFC 300 athlete hoping to earn a victory this weekend in the quickest manner possible, one future star is hoping for more of a challenge.
From world title clashes to number-one contender bouts, UFC 300 features some truly outstanding matchups. Whilst some fights are expected to be closer than others, there’s one athlete who hopes that UFC 300 will deliver the greatest challenge of his professional career – and it’s hard to argue against why.
Bo Nickal rides into UFC 300 with a perfect winning streak
Not only does Bo Nickal enter UFC 300 with a perfect professional record of 5-0, but all five of those wins have come inside the very first round – including his last bout which lasted just 38 seconds.
The undefeated middleweight returns to the octagon this weekend to face fellow DWCS alumni Cody Brundage, who might be 10-5 as a pro, but who has rattled off two wins in a row over Jacob Malkoun and Zach Reese to give himself a shot at stopping the Nickal hype train.
Despite Nickal currently being the biggest favorite on the entire UFC 300 card by a sizable margin, the Penn State star has admitted that he hopes victory doesn’t come too easily on Saturday evening.
Bo Nickal welcomes ‘adversity’ at UFC 300 with open arms
Whilst five consecutive wins via first-round stoppage is an outstanding achievement for any professional fighter, Nickal understands that he needs both more octagon time and more significant challenges in order to round out his skills as an MMA athlete.
Speaking to Brett Okamoto via ESPN MMA, Nickal explained that he does hope to face some adversity and that “it would be nice to see a little bit” more of a challenge from Brundage than had been offered from his previous opponents.
“I feel like when [I’ve done] a long camp and all the hard work and everything that is put in, then if it ends so quickly it’s a weird mix of emotions. But if I could experience some adversity, I think it’d be great for me and my career, and just my development overall.”
“I would love to see that – I don’t know if it will happen, but we’ll see,” said the Colorado native, who also retains 97% of the Tapology Community Picks just a few days out from his PPV feature.
Nickal admitted that prior to joining the UFC, the “mental toughness and physical toughness” needed to be victorious in MMA was “something that I was never concerned with or worried about.”
Yet he added that his experience as a top-level collegiate wrestler has more than prepared him enough for any potential challenge that Brundage might offer him at the T-Mobile Arena:
“Having been in a competitive environment from a very young age, not only competitive but physically demanding and tough, the type of stuff you experience as a kid in wrestling coming up the way I did, that’s just such good preparation for adversity and competition – so I don’t really have any questions with how I’ll respond to adversity in that moment.”
The undefeated prospect speaks on ‘controversial’ card placement
When the main card of UFC 300 was first announced, Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage was placed above Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan – which drew a decidedly negative reaction from the fans.
Speaking to Kevin Iole, Nickal shared that the comments online don’t bother him as “the fans are going to have opinions regardless,” before adding that his UFC 300 placement could prove fruitful in the many years left to come in his UFC career:
“The more that I think about it, the more I think it’ll make sense a couple years down the line when I’m fighting in main events or fighting for the belt.”
In the weeks since that initial card order was shown on a UFC broadcast, the official UFC 300 page has been updated to show the former lightweight champion above the undefeated prospect.
“I’m on the PPV for a reason, and the UFC is a business at the end of the day, they’re looking to make money and sell PPVs – if I didn’t sell PPVs then I wouldn’t be where I’m at.”
Bo Nickal takes on Cody Brundage on the main card of UFC 300 this weekend, scheduled for April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.