Bo Nickal is just three fights into his professional fighting career and he’s already become one of the most discussed athletes on the entire UFC roster.
Part of that comes from his pedigree as a three-time NCAA champion wrestler, and then there’s the eye-popping statistics, having wiped out his first three opponents in less than three minutes of total cage time. But there’s also Nickal’s unshakable confidence in himself.
Even though Nickal has zero UFC experience, he is certain that he can take down a high-level contender such as Khamzat Chimiaev. In fact, Nickal already called out Chimaev after his second win on the UFC’s Contender Series, and he’s not backing down from that challenge — even if the fight may not happen any time soon.
” I think that this guy talks about how he is ready to go all the time, he’s a gangster and this and this — but, bro, it’s impossible even to beat the scale,” Nickal stated on The MMA Hour . “What are you doing? This is just a dude that has no accountability and doesn’t treat the sport professionally. This makes it less nerve-wracking to face him again in the future. We’ll fight. I know he’s not committed like I am. He’s not willing to do the things that I’m willing to do.
“Yeah, he’s talented. Yes, he is skilled. But if that’s how you approach the sport, if that’s how you treat it, we’re on different levels. People will act like I’m talking crazy because I say I’m ready to go — Chimaev, let’s get it — but reality is this dude won three national titles in Sweden and then came into MMA and has 10 fights. I’ve been competing since I was 5 [years old]. I had 120-plus NCAA wrestling matches. I won a U23 world championship. I’m coming with 10 times the experience you have. So when people say, ‘You’re not ready, stay in your lane’ — y’all don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, so you’ll see what happens once we get in the cage.”
Immediately after Nickal made the callout, Chimaev clapped back by saying, “Who is that boy?” But the former Penn State standout feels like that was just Chimaev’s way of avoiding a potential confrontation.
Nickal admits that it’s unlikely that he will draw Chimaev in the UFC, but he believes that their paths will cross, given their respective career paths.
“He knows exactly who I am,” Nickal said. He doesn’t want to fight, so he only says things. He will try to act as if he doesn’t know me. You’ll get to know me. You’ll get to know me because, at the end, I will keep winning. I’m down. Let’s get it.
“I don’t really see too many people that can deal with his pressure and that are going to be able to take him out. He’s the one. I’m excited for that opportunity because everybody thinks he’s untouchable and I know he’s not.”
If the fight does take place, Nickal doesn’t worry about Chimaev’s lack of UFC experience.
The 26-year-old prospect truly believes he’s ready for the best of the best in the world right now, and that’s why he’s not backing down from anybody while still realistically starting his fight career.
“What’s he going to do to me?” Nickal said addressing Chimaev. “Is he going to take me down? No. No. No. Does he have a chance to knock me out? I guess, yeah, there’s a chance he knocks me out. Reality is that he will most likely knock me out. I plan to drag him to the ground and do to them exactly what he did to these strikers.
“Because I’m a real grappler, I come from real wrestling. He’s doing the exact same thing to Kevin Holland and Li [Jingliang],, so that’s exactly what I will do .”
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In a very short amount of time, Chimaev has already become a marquee star for the UFC, while Nickal may be one of the most talked about prospects to sign with the promotion in several years. Nickal believes that if both win, a fight with Chimaev will do very well for the UFC. He may even draw numbers like Conor McGregor.
“I hope it is the biggest fight in the history of the sport,” Nickal said. “I hope it is, because that’s right where I see myself and what excites me the most. That’s why I get up every day and train as hard as I do and put the hours in that other people aren’t willing to do.
” When the fight is announced, and he signs it off, he will have eight weeks of training but it will be too late. Because I’ve been training since I was 5 and I’m ready for this.”
