Bo Nickal can’t see Khamzat Chimaev hanging with him inside the Octagon — especially in a five-round fight.
Making his third appearance for the promotion at UFC 300, Nickal was dragged beyond the first round for the first time in his career. Still, the result was the same as the three-time NCAA Division I National Champion dispatched his opponent, Cody Brundage, via rear-naked choke in the latter half of the second stanza.
Sitting at 6-0 in his mixed martial arts career, it’ll be a while before we see Nickal squaring off with anyone sniffing around the middleweight top 10, but that won’t stop the former Nittany Lion from looking ahead. Particularly when it comes to the undefeated Chechen monster, Khamzat Chimaev.
Nickal has had his sights set on a scrap with ‘Borz’ since scoring his contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. Perhaps one day we’ll see how that plays out. For now, we’ll just have to live with Nickal’s prediction of how things could potentially play out between the two world-class wrestlers.
Bo Nickal predicts how a fight between him and Khamzat Chimaev would go if they fought right now:
“[I would] take him down, ragdoll him, throw him around. He’s not a big 85er, he gets tired… if that fight is 5 rounds I don’t think he makes it 5 rounds.”
@arielhelwani… pic.twitter.com/TfVnTOkbPd
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 17, 2024
“I think I would do similarly to him what I did to this last guy,” Nickal said during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani “[I would] take him down, ragdoll him, throw him around. He’s not a big 85er, he gets tired. Is his first round gonna be a little more competitive? Probably, but if that fight is five rounds I don’t think he makes it five rounds.
“Will it be tough in the beginning? Is he gonna come at it? Absolutely, but I don’t think he’s going to be able to hurt me or do anything that inflicts so much damage that I’m not going to be able to widen the gap on him as the fight continues.”
Khamzat Chimaev meets Robert Whittaker in a high-stakes scrap in Saudi Arabia
Currently, Khamzat Chimaev is gearing up for what will be the biggest test of his career thus far. Returning to the Octagon on Saturday, June 22, ‘Borz’ will headline the UFC’s debut in Saudi Arabia, squaring off with former middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker.
After kickstarting his UFC career with three wins in eight weeks, Chimaev’s appearances have been few and far between. He last fought at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi where he earned a majority decision over short-notice opponent Kamaru Usman. The victory came more than a year removed from his UFC 279 debacle that saw him go from fighting Nate Diaz to competing against Kevin Holland in the span of 24 hours.