This weekend, undefeated American middleweight Bo Nickal makes his highly anticipated return to the octagon on the main card of UFC 309 against Scottish submission specialist, Paul Craig.
Should the popular 6-0 middleweight get his hand raised on Saturday evening, he’ll be one step closer to what he describes to be an ‘inevitable’ showdown with fellow undefeated phenom, Khamzat Chimaev.
Bo Nickal on his ‘rivalry’ with fellow undefeated UFC phenom Khamzat Chimaev
Throughout his UFC tenure, Bo Nickal has not only remained vocal about his admiration for Chimaev and his insane skillset but also his desire to one day test himself against the undefeated ‘Borz’.
Speaking with Brett Okamoto ahead of his return at UFC 309, Nickal would first celebrate Chimaev’s recent performance against Robert Whittaker – a dominant first-round submission win in which he broke part of the Australian’s jaw.
“First off, his fight against Whittaker was really impressive. To see somebody do that to a veteran, a guy who’s been champion and defended his belt, that’s an incredible feat.
“Watching the fight, I was very impressed and every time I fight, we get closer [to that being put together] … He’s obviously quite a way ahead of me, I’m just looking to catch up and it seems like, as you said, that’s kind of an inevitable thing.”
Whilst Nickal is currently unranked in the middleweight division, the road to a potential undefeated vs undefeated showdown is a simple one: “As long as I keep winning and he keeps winning, then we’ll make it work.
“I hope he does [stay undefeated], I was rooting for him to win against Whittaker, and he did amazing… I also liked the build-up, hearing his interviews and his demeanor, it seemed different. I think we’re a lot more similar than what I thought originally.”
Nickal remains confident that he can secure that fight without having to disrespect the 14-0 phenom, although he did later state that he views Chimaev as his biggest rival in the UFC.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for him, I never felt like calling him out was a disrespectful thing, I think he’s the best so that’s the guy I want to fight… It would be great; we don’t really get to choose our rivals but that would be awesome.
“Again, like I said, it’s not out of a negative space, it’s out of a positive space because I respect him a lot. I think his skills are amazing… I just want to be the best, so whoever is the best, that’s the guy I’ve got to beat.”
Nickal returns at UFC 309 against Scottish submission specialist Paul Craig
Bo Nickal is currently 6-0 as a professional and 3-0 under the UFC banner, although his toughest test to date will come at UFC 309 when he faces Paul Craig in the featured bout of the evening.
Craig is 1-4 in his last five but remains one of the most dangerous grapplers on the entire UFC roster; whilst lesser fighters might be wary about engaging on the ground, Nickal is ready to steal the victory wherever the fight ends up.
“I’m definitely not afraid of it,” stated Nickal, who revealed that he’s actually 0-1 at Madison Square Garden, having placed second at the NCAA tournament at The Mecca in 2016.
“For me, I’m coming into this fight very open. I feel like I don’t want to close myself off into ‘This is how I have to win’ and visualization is important but the way I view it, is it’s almost coming to you – it’s not something that you project.
“With this fight, I feel like wherever it goes I’m going to be confident, comfortable… I have a good gameplan and good structure, but it’s a loose structure – I’ve got room to be creative and improvised.”
Bo Nickal vs Paul Craig leads into the co-main event between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler, with the night topped off by heavyweight kings Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic.