Tag: bo nickal

‘Overrated’ Bo Nickal Disappointed by Cormier’s Pro-Khamzat Commentary During UFC 309 Fight

'Overrated' Bo Nickal Disappointed by Cormier's Pro-Khamzat Commentary During UFC 309 FightBo Nickal was proud of the performance he delivered at UFC 309. Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed watching it. Nickal’s…

'Overrated' Bo Nickal Disappointed by Cormier's Pro-Khamzat Commentary During UFC 309 Fight

Bo Nickal was proud of the performance he delivered at UFC 309. Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed watching it.

Nickal’s return to the Octagon on Saturday night was a bit of a mixed bag. Sure, the three-time NCAA Division I national champion earned a fairly decisive victory, moving to 7-0 in his mixed martial arts career, but he definitely didn’t make any new fans with the lackluster performance. Instead of utilizing his world-class wrestling, Nickal opted to keep the fight standing and show off his evolution as a well-rounded fighter.

Bo Nickal

It was a bold move and one that proved to pay off, but the lack of fireworks — or really anything of note — had fans relentlessly booing Nickal and dubbing him overrated.

The commentary team wasn’t exactly kind to Nickal either. Especially Daniel Cormier who made his thoughts on Nickal’s performance and his chances against someone like Khamzat Chimaev quite clear.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani, Nickal snapped back at the negative comments by the UFC 309 commentary team and defended his decision to stand and trade with Craig.

“When I watched the fight back, something that was a little disappointing was the commentary and just kinda hearing the way they were looking at the fight,” Nickal said. “It made me feel like they didn’t really know what was going on. Anybody that I’ve talked to, the people that I trust and shoot straight with me, they’re like, ‘Dude, you shut that guy out, total domination, it was a flawless victory’” (h/t MMA Mania).

Truth be told, Nickal’s victory was far from dominant. According to the UFC Stats website, Nickal only landed six more total strikes than Craig throughout the 15-minute affair, but landed at a significantly higher clip, connecting on 63% of his strikes while ‘Bearjew’ only landed 37% of his.

However, Craig also threw 45 more total strikes than Nickal, so clearly he was the busier fighter on the night.

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Dana White acknowledges that Bo Nickal Still ‘Needs Work’

Daniel Cormier and the MSG crowd weren’t the only ones critical of Nickal’s performance. During the post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White acknowledged that the former Nittany Lion still needs a lot of work before he can achieve his lofty goals.

“Well, you know, we’ve had these discussions with Bo. Bo needs work,” White told the media. “Bo is an up-and-coming guy. I know he has big aspirations and wants to move faster than he should. But, tonight showed that — I mean, he still dominated, he won the whole fight — but he’s got work to do. It’s alright, we’ll move him. When you’re in a position like Bo is, there’s a lot of expectations.”

Chael Sonnen Blames Bo Nickal’s Team For Frustrating UFC 309 Performance: ‘Somebody Got A Hold Of Him!’

Bo Nickal remained undefeated at UFC 309 and earned his biggest win to date but these stats alone do not tell the full story of his performance at Madison Square Garden. The undefeated 185-pounder faced off with Scotland’s Paul Craig in a fight that many believed would be Nickal’s toughest test to date. The biggest […]

Bo Nickal remained undefeated at UFC 309 and earned his biggest win to date but these stats alone do not tell the full story of his performance at Madison Square Garden. The undefeated 185-pounder faced off with Scotland’s Paul Craig in a fight that many believed would be Nickal’s toughest test to date.

The biggest talking point heading into this match-up was whether the wrestling specialist would attempt to play to his strengths against Scotland’s Craig who is an incredibly dangerous submission artist. In the end, we didn’t get to find out how they would have matched up in this area because fight fans instead got a fairly uneventful striking match over three rounds which Nickal won without landing too many significant shots.

In a recent video on his YouTube channel in the aftermath of the UFC’s return to New York, Chael Sonnen voiced his frustrations about the fight and Nickal’s approach in particular. He believes that someone must have told the 28-year old to stay clear of Craig’s grappling and though he ended up winning the striking battle and therefore the fight, Sonnen took a lot of issue with this considering his wrestling credentials.

“My problem with it and my gripe is that you have a four-time world champion… doesn’t do one damn bit of wrestling because somebody got a hold of him. One of his trainers or his training partners sat him down and said, ‘You’re not ready to go to the ground with the guy.’ Well how the F would we know? How in the F we would know that now?”

Sonnen went on to reference Georges St-Pierre and how he would game plan for opponents in comparison. He said that the former welterweight and middleweight champion would look at his three best skill sets and rank them in order to strategize how he would approach the fight and what his back-up plans would be.

“The Bad Guy” believes that Nickal gave Craig too much respect by not sticking to what he does best, stating that this isn’t something that the middleweight prospect did when he faced elite wrestlers so would he start doing it now.

“That is nothing that Bo has ever done. He didn’t show Gabe Dean that respect, he didn’t show Miles Martin that respect, he did not show David Taylor that respect and he refuses to take down, a four-time world champion refuses to use one bit of wrestling against a guy that’s never had a wrestling match. That is because of somebody in his trusted inner circle.”

5 Fights We Need to See After UFC 309

Saturday’s UFC 309 card set the stage for what could turn out to be some of the biggest fights of 2025. The card went down in New York City, with a suitably…

Saturday’s UFC 309 card set the stage for what could turn out to be some of the biggest fights of 2025. The card went down in New York City, with a suitably…

5 Fights We Need to See After UFC 309

Saturday’s UFC 309 card set the stage for what could turn out to be some of the biggest fights of 2025. The card went down in New York City, with a suitably…

Saturday’s UFC 309 card set the stage for what could turn out to be some of the biggest fights of 2025. The card went down in New York City, with a suitably…

5 Fights We Need to See After UFC 309

Saturday’s UFC 309 card set the stage for what could turn out to be some of the biggest fights of 2025. The card went down in New York City, with a suitably…

Saturday’s UFC 309 card set the stage for what could turn out to be some of the biggest fights of 2025. The card went down in New York City, with a suitably…

Bo Nickal Doubles Down On Defense Of UFC 309 Performance: ‘This Fight Was Picture-Perfect’

UFC middleweight prospect Bo Nickal continues to push back on suggestions he underperformed this past weekend. Nickal was among those to have their hand raised on the main card of Saturday’s UFC 309 pay-per-view. But unlike his previous Octagon outings — all of which came by way of knockout or submission — the American didn’t […]

UFC middleweight prospect Bo Nickal continues to push back on suggestions he underperformed this past weekend.

Nickal was among those to have their hand raised on the main card of Saturday’s UFC 309 pay-per-view. But unlike his previous Octagon outings — all of which came by way of knockout or submission — the American didn’t draw a positive reaction from the crowd.

The audience in attendance at Madison Square Garden made their displeasure known throughout Nickal’s three-round contest with formerly ranked middleweight and light heavyweight contender Paul Craig.

After the decorated wrestling specialist got the nod after 15 minutes of largely forgettable striking, he was heavily booed during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. And they rained down even heavier when Nickal defended the display and expressed how happy he was with the win.

During his post-fight press conference at MSG, Nickal shared the same sentiment, even going as far as to call his performance in New York City “picture-perfect.”

“Definitely, it’s way better for me and my development,” Nickal said. “If you look at my cage time and what I had before this, I over-doubled it, for sure. That’s something that for me I’ve really cornered myself with this reputation of a guy who finishes them and destroys them – because that’s when the expectation is set. My expectation is to compete to the best of my ability at 100 percent effort.

“It’s not anything to do with the result. It doesn’t matter: decisions, submissions, knockouts. I’m definitely not disappointed with this result. I was way more disappointed with my last fight and I subbed the guy,” Nickal continued. “This fight, for me, was picture-perfect.”

With the result, Nickal has moved to a perfect 4-0 in the UFC and 7-0 overall as a professional mixed martial artist.

The three-time NCAA Division I national champion and three-time Big Ten Conference champion out of Pennsylvania State University will now look ahead to his first assignment of 2025, as he edges closer to putting a number next to his name at 185 pounds.