Bo Nickal can’t see Khamzat Chimaev hanging with him contained in the Octagon — particularly in a five-round struggle.
Making his third look for the promotion at UFC 300, Nickal was dragged past the primary spherical for the primary time in his profession. Nonetheless, the outcome was the identical because the three-time NCAA Division I Nationwide Champion dispatched his opponent, Cody Brundage, via rear-naked choke within the latter half of the second stanza.
Sitting at 6-0 in his combined martial arts profession, it’ll be some time earlier than we see Nickal squaring off with anybody sniffing across the middleweight high 10, however that received’t cease the previous Nittany Lion from trying forward. Significantly with regards to the undefeated Chechen monster, Khamzat Chimaev.
Nickal has had his sights set on a scrap with ‘Borz’ since scoring his contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. Maybe at some point we’ll see how that performs out. For now, we’ll simply need to dwell with Nickal’s prediction of how issues may probably play out between the 2 world-class wrestlers.
“I believe I’d do equally to him what I did to this final man,” Nickal said during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani “[I would] take him down, ragdoll him, throw him round. He’s not a giant 85er, he will get drained. Is his first spherical gonna be a bit extra aggressive? Most likely, but when that struggle is 5 rounds I don’t suppose he makes it 5 rounds.
“Will or not it’s powerful to start with? Is he gonna come at it? Completely, however I don’t suppose he’s going to have the ability to harm me or do something that inflicts a lot injury that I’m not going to have the ability to widen the hole on him because the struggle continues.”
Khamzat Chimaev meets Robert Whittaker in a high-stakes scrap in Saudi Arabia
At the moment, Khamzat Chimaev is gearing up for what will probably be the biggest test of his career thus far. Returning to the Octagon on Saturday, June 22, ‘Borz’ will headline the UFC’s debut in Saudi Arabia, squaring off with former middleweight titleholder Robert Whittaker.
After kickstarting his UFC profession with three wins in eight weeks, Chimaev’s appearances have been few and much between. He final fought at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi the place he earned a majority choice over short-notice opponent Kamaru Usman. The victory got here greater than a yr faraway from his UFC 279 debacle that noticed him go from preventing Nate Diaz to competing in opposition to Kevin Holland within the span of 24 hours.
Trending Merchandise
