Bo Nickal ‘confident’ of win against Israel Adesanya in ‘dream’ potential matchup
Yet to even land in the UFC yet, recent and incoming Dana White’s Contender Series feature, the undefeated, Bo Nickal has claimed that a middleweight matchup with division champion, Israel Adesanya is a “dream” clash for him. And one he would be “confident” of winning.
Appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series earlier this month, Nickal managed to turn in a dominant, one-sided first round rear-naked choke win against opponent, Zachary Borrego.
The victory came as the decorated amateur wrestler’s second professionally off the back of a prior 33-second knockout win over Josh Noland at iKON 3 back in June in a middleweight division bow.
Touted for success in the sport given his amateur wrestling background, Nickal has already been booked to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series in September, featuring opposite the 6-1 Donovan Beard.
At just 2-0, Bo Nickal remains confident of toppling champion, Israel Adesanya
Labelled the ‘American Khabib’ after the former undisputed lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Nickal has claimed that he would be “confident” if he found himself standing opposite current middleweight pacesetter, Adesanya, calling a potential fight a “dream” bout for him.
“Oh, I would love that fight – that’s like a dream matchup for me,” Bo Nickal told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “Obviously, with all due respect, he’s (Israel Adesanya) one of the greatest middleweights of all time, great champion. But I think people say this a lot, styles make fights, so, with that being said, I feel confident in that matchup. I feel very good about it. And I would love to have that fight sometime in the future, that would literally be a dream for me.”
“I would be absolutely confident, absolutely confident in that fight,” Bo Nickal said. “That’s a fight – to me again, like I said, styles make fights and I would be extremely happy with that matchup right now.”
Headlining twice this year, City Kickboxing ace, Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker earlier this annum before handing Jared Cannonier a forgettable unanimous decision loss in the main event of UFC 276. The Nigerian-Kiwi is slated to headline UFC 281 in November against Brazilian finisher, Alex Pereira next.
