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Collegiate wrestling star Bo Nickal is not impressed with former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and current middleweight king Alex Pereira’s grappling skills. In assessing both men’s wrestling, Nickal likes his chances.

Bo Nickal’s talks Adesanya and Pereira

The three-time wrestling NCAA Division I National Champion with Penn State recently discussed ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya and ‘Poatan’ Alex Pereira when it comes to grappling, Nickal spoke on The MMA Hour and said:

“That’s a relatively, I would say – I’m not going to say ‘easy’ fight, because he’s dangerous. But as far styles go, that’s a great matchup for me. I’ve watched their fight a couple times, and the grappling (is where I’d win). The striking exchanges are super impressive – that goes without saying. They’re absolutely elite strikers. But when they get ahold of each other, it’s just almost, like, funny.”

On ‘Poatan’ vs Adesanya, Bo Nickal added:

“Like, I’m laughing at how they’re moving and what they’re doing and stuff. And maybe they feel that way about me when I’m hitting pads and hitting the bag and stuff. But I just feel like, if I grabbed ahold of either of those guys, it wouldn’t go well for them. And I think everybody knows that, so that’s not something that’s a shocking statement or that’s pretty outlandish, in my opinion.” [Transcript courtesy of MMA Junkie]

After being a standout on Dana White‘s Contender Series, Bo Nickal will soon be making his UFC debut. On March 4, the US-born athlete will be facing MMA veteran Jamie Pickett at UFC 285. Nickal will be looking to use his impressive wrestling acumen to make it 4-0 in MMA.

Adesanya and Pereira had a showdown last year for the middleweight throne with Brazil’s ‘Poatan’ walking away with UFC gold. The two are booked for a world title rematch upcoming later this year at UFC 287 on April 8.

See the full interview below: