Paul Craig: “I Kinda Like Bo Nickal as a Fight”

Paul Craig Calls Out Bo Nickal

Craig was interviewed during the UFC Post-Fight Show with Din Thomas, Karen Bryant, and Laura Sanko, following his impressive victory over Muniz in the O2 Arena in London; during the interview, Craig mentioned he had his sights on rising prospect- Bo Nickal.

Bryant asked, “Going into this division now, you maybe have a hit list in mind, I"m curious where you sort of plot your road to the title?" Craig answered, “What I want to do is be in the top 15, I"m number nine in the Light Heavyweight, that journey"s not over. I"m the only person who has a victory over the ex-champion Jamahal Hill and [Magomed] Ankalaev, the other top guys in this division. So I believe I can still hang with these guys, if I move back up from Middleweight to Light Heavyweight then there"ll be a more scientific approach, but it would be there to come back down to Middleweight. It"s going to be that, we"re going to put on more mass." Craig then laid out his plans for Middleweight, “But as a Middleweight, I kinda like Bo Nickal as a fight. Nobody wants to fight him, but then if he takes me down, he better be good at passing guard because I"m very good at retaining guard."

Sanko then asked what made Craig like the Bo Nickal fight so much. “He"s a name, he"s a name, he can play into my gameplan where he gets in tight, takes me down, it just affects me better. That"s one of the things that we knew Andre Muniz would do, he would shoot in and take me down- and that"s just where I do my best work if he puts me on my back then I"m able to scramble, look for these triangles, look for these armbars, and I have to give him [Muniz] props where his Jiu-Jitsu was very good, to kind of shut that down, and that"s when we started to thought, maybe we"ll look at his standup and start this whole process of striking and getting a takedown again." Craig said. A fight between Craig and Nickal would certainly make sense, not only from a rankings and matchup perspective but also from a fan"s perspective. Nickal isn"t the only hyped prospect he"s got his sights on either as Craig namedropped Khamzat Chimaev during the Post-Fight Press Conference, you can check it out in the video below.

Paul Craig welcomes any middleweight to take him down – including Khamzat Chimaev.

"There’s a good chance he’s going to get triangled." 🔺▲#UFCLondon: https://t.co/JiD5vN7WJa pic.twitter.com/RTANl5X1zi

— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 22, 2023

Bo Nickal (5-0 MMA) is undefeated in the UFC (now 2-0). Nickal debuted at UFC 285 in March, defeating Jamie Pickett via. first-round Submission, and most recently defeated the debuting Val Woodburn via. first-round TKO at UFC 290 just earlier this month. The 27-year-old- Nickal was a three-time NCAA Division One National Champion in collegiate wrestling and is highly regarded as one of the most accomplished Nittany Lions of all time in Athletics, finishing with an NCAA record of 120-3 for Penn State. Paul Craig (17-6-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC) has yet to win a fight by decision, of his 17 wins, four have come by KO/TKO, and the other 13 by submission, proving he"s a very high threat on the mat from the top or bottom position. Nickal flashed some of the striking prowess and power he possesses with the impressive first-round TKO in his last fight, but Nickal"s bread and butter is in the wrestling department where Craig could truly test Nickal"s submission defense and top control. Add on the opinion that Craig will now more than likely take Muniz"s ranking of 14th in the UFC Middleweight division and Nickal is certainly eyeing that top 15 sooner rather than later, and it makes sense.