Bo Nickal might be taking his time making his way up the middleweight roster but the young prospect already has his eyes set on the third-ranked Khamzat Chimaev. After Chimaev’s jaw-breaking win at UFC 308 over former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, Nickal has claimed he wasn’t surprised by the performance… Mostly because the American believes he’s the only guy who will be able to match ‘Borz’.
Nickal finds it funny that this was even expected to be a tough fight for the Chechen machine.
“You can ask around, all the people that I talked to – I kind of thought he would do that to Whittaker.”
But he admits it’s one thing to imagine it and a different experience watching it unfold in real-time.
“But he actually did it, which is super impressive.”
The middleweight prospect also gave Whittaker his flowers for being an exemplary fighter and said that the Aussie wouldn’t have been an easy fight for anyone. But he was impressed with the mentality Chimaev brought to the fight and made it look so easy.
Earlier, when Chimaev had been asked about Nickal, the Chechen fighter had asserted that the American had a long way to go before he could compete at a similar level as him.
Nickal agrees.
“That’s a fight I’m looking forward to. I think, obviously, he’s quite a bit ahead of me right now, but he’ll be fighting for the belt soon and then I’ll catch up quick.”
The middleweight division is in a bit of a tricky position right now with Sean Strickland claiming bragging rights over a rematch with champion Dricus du Plessis. However, the crowd screaming out for Chimaev makes a rather strong case for Chimaev to take over and fight the South African.
Nickal, on the other hand, is plotting his way back into the octagon and hopes that in about 5 fights-time he will be ready for UFC gold.
Nickal’s ticket to the UFC gold rush
The American fighter has been rather reserved with his fight dates and doesn’t want to rush into things. Having fought last in April, the 6-0-0 fighter aims to continue his winning journey against Paul Craig at UFC 309 later this week at the Madison Square Garden.
And if he goes past Craig, his toughest battle to date in the promotion, the NCAA wrestler believes he’s already on his way to something that most fighters take years to get to.
“I’m basically there. If I win one or two more fights then I’m fighting a ranked guy then I’m fighting a top five then I’m fighting for the belt. If I have six fights right now, I’m already passed the halfway point if that’s the trajectory.”
In all likelihood, if he defeats Craig, Nickal’s next fight, and dominantly so, his next fight is almost guaranteed to be against a ranked fighter. That said, the difficulty doesn’t get added up from here, it compounds.
Rising up in ranks and then fighting a Top 5 ranked guy, especially in a stacked division isn’t exactly a linear equation. But Nickal’s history suggests he’s up to the task. Hopefully, a couple of years down the line, maybe three, he gets to fight ‘Borz’.