Bo Nickal entered the UFC with sky-high expectations, thanks to his stellar collegiate wrestling career and jaw-dropping early performances in the octagon. But at UFC 309, he couldn’t finish Paul Craig and is getting criticized for it. However, the American fighter has found an unlikely support on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz.
Abdelaziz, known for being extremely unfiltered in sharing his opinions online and in person has defended Nickal and asked the naysayers to ease up on the undefeated UFC middleweight prospect.
“Everyone is criticizing Bo Nickal, guys everyone needs to chill this guy is 6-0. People are haters they want other people to do bad in life.”
Nickal is currently 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist and Craig was supposed his biggest step up in competition since signing for the UFC.
Although Nickal did not secure a finish, he displayed extremely good striking and relied heavily on it to secure a win, a sidestep from his tried and tested methods of ground and ground. The criticism also comes because this is a wrestler with exemplary skills, who simply didn’t employ them against the Scotsman to finish him off, which angered a lot of the fans present in the audience.
While Nickal’s fight was still on, the crowd had even resorted to chanting, ‘overrated’.
However, it’s all part of the game and Nickal understands that. In the post-fight press conference, he stated that he was not too fazed by the booing and understood that he could not get a finish in every fight. He stated that he is ready for a jump-up in competition as well.
Darren Till warns Nickal of Chimaev ambitions
Since his debut, the idea of a Bo Nickal vs. Chimaev matchup, hyped as a clash between two future champions has been floated. Back then, Nickal was even pegged as the favorite by the oddsmakers, a prediction he confidently claimed didn’t surprise him. However, since then, Chimaev has torn through the ranks, defeating everybody on his path with gay abandon.
Despite his frequent bouts with illness, the Chechen fighter has shown that he truly belongs in the hall of champions and right now, is literally one fight away from UFC gold.
He is now ranked third in the division, while Nickal has yet to crack the rankings.
Unimpressed by Nickal’s recent UFC 309 performance and the general lack of development, Till called him a “ginger tool” and claimed Chimaev would destroy him.
Even UFC commentators like Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier have echoed that Nickal is not yet ready for “Borz,” sparking frustration from the young American wrestler.
