Las Vegas, NV — Standout middleweight prospect Bo Nickal is as human as the rest of us, and was rather critical of his performance at UFC 300, despite improving to 6-0 with three wins in the UFC care a submission of Cody Brundage.
“I feel mixed emotions about my performance. Obviously any time you get a win, you get a finish, that’s a good thing,” said Nickal, a three-time NCAA Division I champ in collegiate wrestling. “But I don’t really compete and fight and train just to get a win or to get a finish. That being said there’s a lot to improve on, a lot that could have been done differently.”
“I’m grateful for the experience. Got to the second round for the first time in my career, got punch in a real fight for the first time in my career. Those might not seem like good things, but I think they’ll only help me in the long run.”
In terms of why he was unhappy with his showing on Saturday, Nickal admitted that “I’ll be honest, that 300K bonus got me trying to knock this dude out right away.”
“I can’t, I think, be easily drawn into that type of fight, just because that’s pretty much the only type of fight I’m going to lose.” Nickal believes he can dominate and control early in fights without getting wild and brawling, he explained. “I’m a little frustrated with myself, in that, but it’s a learning experience, it’s a lesson. Hopefully I’ll get a quick turnaround to be able to get back in the octagon soon and learn from that.”
Watch the full UFC 300 post-fight press conference appearance by Bo Nickal above.
