‘I Don’t Want To Skip Steps’
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Bo Nickal is looking to go slow and steady.
Nickal will return to action at UFC 309 next week (Sat., Nov. 16, 2024) for his fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight against his biggest opponent to date, Paul Craig, which will take place inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Nickal has not competed since the iconic UFC 300 fight card, when he submitted Cody Brundage in the second round (watch highlights).
Two months ago, a fan criticized Nickal for being a complete disappointment because he is inactive. The three-time NCAA Division I national champion from Penn State University replied, “I’m on my own path and having fun; just enjoy the show.”
Nickal was recently on Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast show and expanded on his inactivity.
“For me, the most important thing is developing. And I don’t want to skip steps on development,” Nickal said. “These guys, have 20 plus pro fights...I fought six times in a little over two years. So, you know, is that infrequent? I wouldn’t say it’s infrequent. I think people maybe forget that. I’ve only been fighting since the summer of 2022 professionally. But with that being said, I think it’s really a good thing because people want to see me fight. They want to see me compete. And personally, I want to compete as much as I can, you know, but at the end of the day, it’s like, let’s say I fight a rank guy next, then I fight a top five guy, and then I’m fighting for the title. It’s not like this long path that I have to get to where I want to go.”
“So for me, the development and the improvement- a lot of it has to happen in training,” Nickal continued. “I feel like I can compete with and beat the best guys in the world right now. But I don’t want it to be competitive when it happens. So when I go out there and and I’m competing for the belt, I want it to look like a master class where this guy’s not even on my level. I think right now there’s a lot of improvements that I need to make to get to that point. You know, I think that it’s not all 100% up to me with the timing of how things work out, but I’m gonna do my best to be prepared. And I feel like I’ve been put in a position where I have to make those improvements in training, and I don’t have the luxury of being able to get 15-20 fights before I’m there, like I’m realistically probably going to be there at 10-11 fights.”
With a win over Craig at UFC 309, there is a good chance he will get a Top 15-ranked opponent in his next outing. However, once he’s in the UFC rankings it could be disastrous because the top guys may not want to fight him and he’ll sit waiting for some to say yes. Or, the UFC veterans might see him still as a rookie with a big name and will want to take him out.
