Bo Nickal: ‘I’ve Got a Lot of Work to Do’ to Reach Potential Khamzat Chimaev Fight

Bo
Nickal has nothing but praise for Khamzat
Chimaev even though they could be on a collision course in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Chimaev made a case for middleweight title contention with a
first-round submission win over Robert
Whittaker at UFC 308
last month. The undefeated Chechen-born Swede has has relied on his
elite grappling during his rise to prominence, but Nickal, a former
three-time NCAA Division I champion, could be the answer to
Chimaev’s suffocating style.

Nickal himself has also been impressed with Chimaev’s wrestling
since he first saw “Borz” choke out John
Phillips in Abu Dhabi in his UFC debut in 2020. However, the
Penn State alum agrees that he could stylistically pose the
toughest threat to Chimaev. Nickal is also aware that a potential
matchup against Chimaev is a long way off.

“I’ve been super impressed with him I think since the very first
time I watched him fight,” Nickal told Submission Radio. “Which was
his first fight in the UFC over COVID in Abu Dhabi, that I thought
that this guy is exceptional. It’s not any different than anybody
else has thought. I think that grappling, he’s definitely at the
highest level in MMA. You saw what he did to a super tough guy in
Robert
Whittaker. So you can’t take that away from him. And I feel
like, yeah, a lot of people have said that when you look at
matchups, that I’m probably the only guy that could really match
him in that department. And I think that hopefully, eventually
that’s a fight that we’ll see. I got a lot of work to do. There’s a
lot of fights in between now and then for me because he is right up
there at the title shot.”

Nickal’s first step towards making it to the rankings would be to
beat Paul Craig
at UFC 309
on Saturday in their main card matchup at the Madison Square Garden
in New York. Nickal is undefeated in six pro outings — all finishes
— and is fresh off a submission win over Cody
Brundage at UFC
300 this past April.