Bo Nickal Snubbed for Khamzat Chimaev as Former Light Heavyweight Paul Craig Hands UFC’s Biggest Prospect a Reality Check – “You’re Not in the Mix”

Bo Nickal is fast rising as a credible middleweight contender in the UFC. He has two wins under his belt since his debut at UFC 285. However, 35-year-old fighter Paul Craig seemed uninterested in a fight against Nickal. Instead, ‘Bearjew’ expressed his wish to fight the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev in the near future.

Former light heavyweight fighter Paul Craig is gearing up for his next fight against Brendan Allen at the UFC on ESPN+ 90. The Scottish fighter appeared during the media day for the fight this weekend, where he revealed his thoughts about the young prospect, Bo Nickal. Let’s see what he had to say about the 27-year-old.

Paul Craig has no plans for fighting Bo Nickal

When one representative of a media outlet asked Paul Craig about Bo Nickal, the Scotsman had nothing but words of praise for the young fighter. He praised the 27-year-old’s wrestling skills. He also commended him for being the good fighter that he has proven himself to be so far.

“Bo Nickal’s one of these guys where he’s got a bit of love. People are respecting his wrestling. He’s like, I can’t take anything away from his wrestling,” said Paul Craig about Bo Nickal.

However, ‘Bearjew’ has other plans. He feels like there are other fighters in the middleweight division with whom he is considering fighting after the Brendan Allen fight. He further stated, “But there’s other guys in front of me who I’d love to fight.”

In addition to that, he also mentioned that he is entering his late 30s now and has only eight fights left. As such, Paul Craig would love to use these remaining eight fights to get into title contention as soon as possible. “[I’m] 35 [and] eight fights [left in the contract]. I want to get as close to the title as possible.” Meanwhile, he expressed his wish to fight another fighter against whom he wants to fight, and it’s someone that Bo Nickal has a beef with.

Craig wants to fight Khamzat Chimaev

‘Bearjew’ revealed his honest thoughts about the possibility of fighting Bo Nickal. He had already mentioned that he was gunning for the title. That is one of the reasons why fighting the three-time NCAA Division I National Champion does not make sense to Paul Craig. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Bo Nickal. But if you’re not in the mix, if you’re not fighting regularly and you’re not in the top 10 and you’re not working towards getting to that belt then I don’t really want to share the Octagon with you,” Craig stated.

Instead, Paul Craig wants to have a crack at someone who’s in the top 10 or the top 5. One of those fighters is Khamzat Chimaev. He praised the Emirati fighter’s UFC 294 performance against Kamaru Usman, calling him one of the best middleweights in the UFC. “I want to share the Octagon with who are in that top 10 [and] top 5. [I want to fight] guys like Khamzat Chimaev, who’s one of the best middleweights. We’ve seen skill-wise, obviously [he] put the pace in his last fight against [Kamaru] Usman and he looks great,” ‘Bearjew’ added.

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Khamzat Chimaev’s recent win over Kamaru Usman has brought him into title contention. There were speculations he might face Sean Strickland as the next contender for the title, but that did not happen. But Paul Craig believes a fight against ‘Borz’ could help him inch closer to the title. And this is his primary aim with just eight fights left in his contract.

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