Bo Nickal doesn’t believe Khamzat Chimaev’s grappling is as good as some are making it out to be.
Both Nickal and Chimaev have been heavily hyped by MMA fans and experts. Chimaev is closer to a title opportunity due to his experience, and he’s set for a high-profile fight against Paulo Costa at UFC 294. As for Nickal, he still has some building up to do since he only started pro MMA competition in 2022.
Bo Nickal thinks he will fight Khamzat Chimaev and it will be bigpic.twitter.com/5fSrqhNyTH
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 22, 2023
Bo Nickal Dismisses Khamzat Chimaev’s Wrestling
Nickal and Chimaev have been praised for their wrestling ability. With that said, Bo Nickal claims he hasn’t seen anything from Chimaev’s takedown skills that has impressed him. During an appearance on “Clash of Combat,” Nickal shared his blunt thoughts on the wrestling of Khamzat Chimaev.
“It’s trash,” Nickal said. “I wouldn’t even say mid.”
Nickal also went on to say that he feels sharing the Octagon with “Borz” is inevitable. He vows to show fans that he’s every bit as good as he says he is.
“At the end of the day, I feel like I can say whatever about his wrestling skills, this and that, we’re gonna fight at some point and people will realize there’s levels,” Nickal said. “It’s just so funny, you go into a world of MMA where there’s no other sport where people know less and think they know more.”
The most recent outing for Nickal ended in just 38 seconds. He scored a TKO victory over Val Woodburn, who was a late replacement opponent. Nickal was initially scheduled to take on Tresean Gore at UFC 290. Gore pulled out of the fight after suffering a torn ligament in his wrist.
Nickal’s win over Woodburn improved his pro MMA record to 5-0. If he continues having performances like that, Nickal may find himself fighting top competition sooner rather than later.
