‘I’m Expected To Starch These Guys’

Nickal didn’t blow through Cody Brundage in under a minute like he usually does, which left him feeling a little frustrated with his performance.

Bo Nickal made his long awaited return at UFC 300, and while the three time NCAA Division I champion earned himself another win and another submission, his performance wasn’t everything it was hyped up to be.

Bo’s biggest competition is currently people’s expectations, not the unranked guys the UFC is putting him in the cage against. So when Cody Brundage had a few moments before being dragged to the canvas and manhandled, people took it as proof that Nickal wasn’t the future champion he’s being touted as.

Nickal himself was unhappy with the win, giving himself the thumbs down after securing a second round rear naked choke (watch the highlights here).

“I feel mixed emotions about my performance,” he said at the UFC 300 post-fight presser. “Obviously anytime you get a win, you get a finish, that’s a good thing. But I don’t really compete and fight and train just to get a win or to get a finish. So that being said, I think there’s a lot to improve on, a lot that I could’ve done differently.”

“But I’m grateful for the experience. Got to the second round for the first time in my career, got punched in a real fight for the first time in my career. Those not might not seem like good things, but I think they’ll only help me in the long run.”

Brundage did a solid job of using the time he had on the feet to try and hurt Nickal. When they ended up on the ground, he didn’t panic and managed to slow things down to a stall.

“It is frustrating when a guy’s just trying to hold on,” Nickal said. “And I I know he was trying to get let back up by the ref, and his coaches were screaming ‘Let him back up’ and stuff. But I was advancing advancing position as much as I could and just controlling the fight. It’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s what I needed to do.”

“I’m more frustrated with how I handled getting to the takedown initially, and just leaving myself a little vulnerable in my mind.”

Bo’s being critical, Khamzat Chimaev is being critical. But UFC CEO Dana White? He went into the cage after the fight to tell Nickal he’s doing alright.

“He just told me great job, keep my head up and keep doing what I’m doing,” Nickal recounted. “That I’m gonna be a massive, massive star. And I think if anybody knows that, what the future holds, it’s him. He’s been in this game and pushed this sport forward more than anybody.”

“It was very cool for him to do that. To me, that says a lot about him not only as a promoter, but as a person. Because I’ll be honest. I was a little down on myself right after the fight because I’m like, man, I’m just expected to starch all these guys, never get touched. But I did just get some adversity. So it was cool to hear some reassurance right in that moment. That just that that made me like him even more than I already do.”

As for what’s next, Nickal suggested two more fights around August and December. He called out No. 12 ranked middleweight Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez, but made it clear he’d be happy with whatever the UFC decided was best for him next

“Any of these guys around that ranking, around that part of division are guys that I’m ready for,” he said. “If I have to get a couple more fights before I’m fighting ranked guys, then that’s fine. That’s a discussion between myself and the UFC. But I wanna start fighting better guys, and these are guys I see as better fighters.”