Bo Nickal is as confident as it gets.
The Penn State wrestling standout, Nickal, will make his highly anticipated Octagon debut at UFC 285 this weekend (Sat., March 4, 2023) in a Middleweight bout against Jamie Pickett. Nickal, 27, won his way into the promotion with two phenomenally flawless performances on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) in 2022.
Despite only being 3-0 and yet to even fight for UFC, Nickal has been calling for a bout against top-ranked Welterweight contender, Khamzat Chimaev, and he feels it’s only a matter of time before the match up happens.
“It would be huge,” Nickal said of a Chimaev fight at UFC 285 media day. “I think that obviously, he has a lot of attention. He’s probably the biggest, most hyped guy coming up right now that hasn’t won a belt yet. I think eventually us clashing is inevitable. So, that’s something that I visualize in my training and when I’m in hard workout, getting my last bike sprint in, getting my last rep in the weight room. I’m visualizing that.
“Whether that fight comes in a year or in three years, five years, whatever it is, I’ll be ready,” he added. “I do a lot of visualization and I see that fight happening as a main event in [the Las Vegas] Raiders stadium (Allegiant Stadium) in front of 100,000 people. I think it would be the biggest event in UFC history. So, only time will tell whether or not we actually get that, but I’m doing everything in my power to make that happen.”
Although Chimaev is ranked atop the Welterweight division at present, it appears that “Borz” next move will be a return to 185 pounds after badly missing weight for his last time out at UFC 279 in Sept. 2022. Originally scheduled to main event opposite Nate Diaz, Chimaev’s blunder on the scale led to him facing and dominating Kevin Holland at 180 pounds en route to a first-round d’arce choke submission win (watch highlights).
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 285 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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