Written by Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Bo Nickal went to decision for the first time in his career as he defeated Paul Craig at UFC 309 but his biggest obstacle may have been the New York crowd.
Recognized as one of the most hyped prospects in recent history, Nickal essentially tore through his first six opponents but he came after Craig with a much more tactical game plan on the feet without attempting a single takedown. While the standout wrestler definitely won the fight, the crowd showered him with boos and actually started chanting “overrated” in the third round.
Once the fight ended, the judges all scored the fight 30-27 for Nickal, who didn’t let the negativity get to him afterwards.
“Honestly, I feel great,” Nickal said. “I went out there, I dominated 15 minutes. I whooped him for 15 minutes. I’m fired up.”
Nickal was resigned to show off his striking in the early going with Craig happy to stand directly in front of him to trade shots. While Nickal was lunging for some of his punches, Craig was doing a good job checking the kicks and then fire back with a few of his own.
Just before the first round ended, Nickal ducked down briefly and came back up top with a pair of overhand lefts to help keep Craig honest in the offensive exchanges.
Craig continued to frustrate Nickal but the three-time NCAA champion managed to crack him with a huge punch that the Scotsman ate effectively. It was evident that Nickal was gunning for the knockout while Craig was trying to stay patient and chip away at him from the outside.
While Craig was firing hard kicks that rattled off Nickal’s arms, he was still getting outstruck with harder punches to the head. Nickal didn’t seem to show much fear when he stepped into the pocket to launch his punches but his accuracy wasn’t always on point.
The crowd was growing restless in the third with the middleweights pawing at each other but not really engaging much. Nickal was still throwing bombs with many of his punches including another stiff left that blasted Craig directly in the eye.
That finally put Craig in peril for the first time as a mouse formed under his eye and blood started trickling down his face. Nickal followed up with another hard shot that caught Craig flush but time was running out with the Madison Square Garden faithful giving him the business after expecting another blistering finish.
While it probably wasn’t the way he envisioned the fight ending, Nickal got some valuable cage time and beat a veteran with more than four times as much experience as him. It wasn’t his best night at the office but Nickal still got the job done and now moves to 7-0 in his career.