Bo Nickal dismisses Khamzat Chimaev’s criticism of UFC 300 performance: “Who were you fighting at 5-0?”
UFC middleweight contender Bo Nickal believes he’ll be a -1000 favorite in a fight against Khamzat Chimaev.
The former NCAA wrestling champion returned to the cage at UFC 300 over the weekend. There, Bo Nickal faced Cody Brundage, who entered the fight riding a two-fight winning streak. Once again, the former Penn State wrestler was a massive, massive betting favorite. Despite the perceived uncompetitive nature of the fight, it was put on the main card of the historic event.
Ultimately, Brundage provided a bit more resistance than many expected. Still, Bo Nickal earned a second-round submission victory, improving his record to 6-0 as a professional fighter. However, many, including Khamzat Chimaev, slammed the fight on social media. ‘Borz’ and Nickal have traded words many times in the past since the wrestler was signed to the UFC.
On The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Bo Nickal responded to Khamzat Chimaev. There, the wrestler stated that while his performance wasn’t great, he believes he will improve with time. By the time Nickal ends up facing Chimaev, he believes that he’ll be just as big of a favorite over the Chechen as anyone else.
Image via: @nobickal1 on Instagram
Bo Nickal slams Khamzat Chimaev over criticism of UFC 300 performance
Nickal also aimed at Khamzat Chimaev’s strength of schedule as well. The wrestler stated that while ‘Borz’ was fighting over in Europe, he’s currently on the main card of historic events such as UFC 300. For what it’s worth, Chimaev’s fifth professional fight was a knockout win over current middleweight contender Ikram Aliskerov.
“That’s good, I love it. The fact that the recognizes it and sees what’s coming too, I think that it’s good for everybody.” Bo Nickal responded when asked about Khamzat Chimaev’s criticism of his UFC 300 win. “It’s good for me, it’s good for him, it’s good for the sport. So, we’re going to make that fight happen. I would just, in response to that, who are you fighting at 5-0 bro? Some random dude in Europe. Like, I’m fighting in the UFC, on UFC 300. So there’s levels to this.”
He continued, “I think that people just need to get to know me. The more they get to know me the more they’ll get to realize that I am that guy. There’s nothing anybody else can do about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if when we fight, I’m a -1000 favorite, the same as I have been in all these other fights. I think I would do to him, very similarly to what I did to this last guy.”
What do you make of these comments from the UFC middleweight prospect? Do you want to see Bo Nickal vs. Khamzat Chimaev in the future?
