Bo Nickal believes former UFC champion Daniel Cormier is underestimating him. The All-American wrestler fought Paul Craig at UFC 309 this weekend and although his performance was not as dominant, he did end up securing the victory over the Scot. But the UFC commentary team made it clear that they did not believe he would be a dream matchup for Khamzat Chimaev at this point.
To Cormier’s credit, he did not say anything wrong. Nickal has long been linked to Chimaev for their wrestling dominant style of fighting but while the Chechen fighter has been breaking former champions’ jaws and burying them in the wake of his victories, Nickal’s progress has been rather stagnant.
This is why Cormier believes he is not yet at a point where he offers Borz a credible challenge.
This statement did not sit well with the former NCAA wrestler. He saw his performance as utterly dominant based on his conversations with the people he knew. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Nickal talked about how DC’s words made him feel disparaged and said,
“To hear DC say, ‘Oh he’s not ready for Khamzat’, and I think he was kind of trying to be respectful but also trying to set me down a peg, it was just weird to hear…..It was a little disappointing to hear some of those comments”
It’s not just DC either, Nickal came across fans echoing DC’s sentiments on the matter and he disapproves of them as well.
Nickal is not happy with the fans
UFC 309 dulled the Bo Nickal hype a bit as he tried to out-strike a BJJ submission specialist in his 7th professional MMA fight. While it was one for the win column, it was still anything but dominant.
But the American wrestler could not understand why the fans were disappointed with his performance. He expressed his frustrations and claimed that even if had knocked out Craig in under 30 seconds, or had him tap out, they would be just as disapproving.
“All they’re going to say is, ‘Paul Craig sucks. Bo Nickal needs to fight better guys. He’s a can crusher.’ No matter what, however I win, it’s not going to make anyone any happier.”
So now he is now learning to listen to the opinions of just the members of his team and his corner, who he believes are honest with him and give him valuable feedback about his fights. That’s definitely one way to go about it.
