Perhaps [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag]’s response to [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag] dismissing his UFC 300 performance wasn’t the best.
Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) criticized Nickal’s (6-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) wrestling – calling it “big bullsh*t” on X – in his second-round submission of Cody Brundage in Saturday’s UFC 300 main card opener.
This wrestling was big bullshit 🤣🤦🏻♂️
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) April 14, 2024
Nickal’s rebuttal?
“The fact that he’s recognizing it and he sees what’s coming, too, I think that it’s good for everybody,” Nickal said on “The MMA Hour.” “Good for me, good for him, good for the sport. So, we’re going to make that fight happen. I would just, in response to that, yo, who were you fighting at 5-0, bro? Some random dude in Europe. Like, I’m fighting in the UFC, on UFC 300. So there’s levels to this.”
The “random dude in Europe” that Chimaev beat when he, too, was 5-0? None other than Ikram Aliskerov, who hasn’t lost since that 2019 knockout by Chimaev and is 2-0 in the UFC with two first-round knockouts.
Nickal kind of shot himself in the foot there with that remark.
Nickal believes a fight between him and Chimaev is inevitable. However, Chimaev is a lot further ahead in his UFC title campaign as he gears up for his No. 1 contender bout against former champion Robert Whittaker, which headlines the June 22 card in Saudi Arabia.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.