Bo Nickal says he deserted his wrestling just for Paul Craig at UFC 309.
Nickal acquired criticism for not resorting to his adorned wrestling background and as an alternative selecting to face with Craig of their middleweight bout earlier this month. He swept the scorecards to say a lackluster unanimous determination win, however many pundits and followers weren’t impressed along with his efficiency.
Nickal (7-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) was particularly critiqued for having beforehand downplayed Khamzat Chimaev’s wrestling, however he’s nonetheless assured that he’d have the sting in the event that they grappled.
“My objective has at all times been to be UFC champion, pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter on this planet,” Nickal stated on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman. “And so after I name out guys like Khamzat, that’s as a result of I believe that he’s actually good, and I need to battle the very best guys.
“I believe that this final battle, regardless that folks didn’t love the efficiency, was an important step in the precise path. I dominated a veteran, a man who has 26 fights, for 3 straight rounds with simply utilizing putting. I didn’t even use my greatest asset. I believe folks now are saying, ‘Oh, Bo, he can’t wrestle’ this or that. Bro, belief me, I can wrestle.”
Nickal assures everybody that he plans on utilizing his wrestling towards future opponents. He insists that he applied the right recreation plan towards Craig (17-9-1 MMA, 9-9-1 UFC), who completed former UFC champion Jamahal Hill and prime contender Magomed Ankalaev off of his again.
“I need to maintain dominating,” Nickal stated. “I have a look at my potential for matchups sooner or later, and with Paul Craig, it’s like his finest place’s off his again. So, I didn’t assume it was the very best scenario to place him in his finest place, however there’s actually no different guys like that.
“So, you’ll be able to assure that each single man I’m going to be taking them down. There’s a really low likelihood – I’m not going to say zero as a result of loopy issues occur – I may slip on a banana peel or one thing. Very low likelihood that they’re taking me down, and in the event that they do I’m getting up assured.”
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