Bo
Nickal will take a step up in competition when he locks horns
with Paul Craig
at UFC
309.
The promotion announced the middleweight booking during the
UFC
306 broadcast on Saturday night. UFC 309 takes place on Nov. 16
at Madison Square Garden in New York and is headlined by a
heavyweight title clash between Jon Jones and
Stipe
Miocic.
One of the most highly-touted prospects in recent memory, Nickal
has kicked off his professional tenure with six straight triumphs.
The former three-time NCAA national champion from Penn State
University is 3-0 in Octagon, including a second-round submission
of Cody
Brundage in his most recent appearance at UFC
300. That fight marked the first time Nickal has been outside
of the first round in his MMA career.
Craig enters the matchup having lost four of his last five fights.
He is 1-2 since moving to 185 pounds from light heavyweight and has
been finished by Caio
Borralho and Brendan
Allen in back-to-back outings. The Scotland native owns notable
triumphs over the likes of Magomed
Ankalaev, Mauricio
Rua, Jamahal
Hill, Nikita
Krylov and Andre Muniz
during his UFC tenure.