The UFC, especially Dana White, sees high potential in 28-year-old middleweight prospect Bo Nickal, who’s undefeated. The prospect even called out another undefeated star, who’s more established in the promotion than himself, Khamzat Chimaev. Well, Nickal opened up on this topic, while unexpectedly giving the Emirati star his flowers for the performances he’s put up so far.

More than a year ago, UFC prospect Bo Nickal, who’s a multiple-time NCAA Division I champion, didn’t see anything special about Khamzat Chimaev‘s wrestling. But it looks like the 28-year-old has changed his opinion over time, revealing he wants to be the best, and fighting against a “good” fighter like Chimaev in the future. It’s undoubtedly planted on his bucket list.

“My goal has always been to be UFC champion [and] pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world,” Bo Nickal stated on ‘Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry’. “So when I call out guys like Khamzat, that’s because I think that he’s really good and I wanna fight the best guys.” 

Bo Nickal also addressed the reaction to his last fight at UFC 309 against Paul Craig, where many people felt disappointed with his performance. Despite all the negative reviews, the 185-pound prospect has pointed out a positive aspect of using his striking more than wrestling. Nickal believes being able to out-fend off a veteran opponent without using the tactics he’s good at has only added to his confidence.

“I think that this last fight, even though people didn’t love the performance, was a great step in the right direction [because], I dominated a veteran, a guy who has 26 fights for three straight rounds, and with just using striking. I didn’t even use my biggest asset, and I think people now are saying, ‘Oh, Bo, no, he can’t wrestle’, this or that. Bro, trust me, I could wrestle,” Bo Nickal added.

Although Bo Nickal plans to fight Khamzat Chimaev in the future, a veteran MMA referee recently claimed it could be an awful idea. But why? Let’s see what he had to say.

Veteran referee claims Khamzat Chimaev is a bad matchup for Bo Nickal

Khamzat Chimaev absolutely demolished Robert Whittaker at UFC 308, and his performance impressed veteran referee John McCarthy. Having stepped away from officiating, the 62-year-old now takes on an analytical role. After seeing what ‘Borz’ did to the former champion, McCarthy doubts that Bo Nickal can control a fight like Chimaev does. This analysis also stems from the fact the 28-year-old had a rather underwhelming showing at UFC 309.

“He can control where the fight goes. That’s a huge aspect of it. But if you’re going to take a look and go, you know people were talking about Bo Nickal against Khamzat Chimaev. Look at it, one of them’s a wrestler and one of them’s a fighter. The wrestler is not going to win in that competition,” John McCarthy stated on the ‘Weighing In’ podcast. Interestingly, it seems Bo Nickal’s in agreement with the veteran referee.

Following his win over Paul Craig, Bo Nickal admitted he was yet to catch up to Khamzat Chimaev and that for now, he intends to fight unranked contenders to develop as a fighter. “I have a lot of catching up to do. I’m fighting unranked guys right now. Those are the type of fights [against the likes of Chimaev] I want in the future, but again, the main focus is [to] improve, develop, get better at fighting and we’ll make that happen in time,” Nickal stated at the UFC 309 post-fight presser.

Losing a fight really impacts a fighter’s standing in the division, so maybe Bo Nickal doesn’t want to take such a risk just yet. Nevertheless, let us know how you imagine a fight between him and Khamzat Chimaev would pan out. Let us know in the comments down below.