Bo Nickal says he’ll return to wrestling-oriented strategy in upcoming fights

Despite winning what was on paper the biggest test of his still developing mixed martial arts career, Bo Nickal took some flak for his UFC 309 performance against Paul Craig.

Nickal, the former Penn State wrestling icon, won a three-round decision against Scotland’s Craig in this month’s event inside Madison Square Garden in a fight between two standout grapplers that — as often happens in this sport — took place entirely in kickboxing range. The clear-cut decision win was celebrated by Nickal in the cage but some of the reaction to it, particularly from another star wrestler to make the transition to MMA, Daniel Cormier, was a little guarded — with ‘DC’ stating afterwards his belief that the 7-0 Nickal needs some work before taking on the biggest names in the divison.

“My goal has always been to be UFC champion, pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world,” Nickal told Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman on their Pound 4 Pound podcast, as noted by MMA Junkie. “And so when I call out guys like Khamzat [Chimaev], that’s because I think that he’s really good, and I want to fight the best guys.

“I think that this last fight, even though people didn’t love the performance, was a great step in the right direction,” he added of his fight with Craig, who has scored a series of impressive submission wins from his back. “I dominated a veteran, a guy who has 26 fights, for three straight rounds with just using striking. I didn’t even use my biggest asset. I think people now are saying, ‘Oh, Bo, he can’t wrestle’ this or that. Bro, trust me, I can wrestle.

“I want to keep dominating,” Nickal explained. “I look at my potential for matchups in the future, and with Paul Craig, it’s like his best position’s off his back. So, I didn’t think it was the best situation to put him in his best position, but there’s really no other guys like that.

“So, you can guarantee that every single guy I’m going to be taking them down. There’s a very low chance — I’m not going to say zero because crazy things happen — I could slip on a banana peel or something. Very low chance that they’re taking me down, and if they do I’m getting up guaranteed.”