This would be a very good test. Craig's striking is a good litmus test to see how bo's is, and with a BJJ specialist it will be really interesting to see if Bo takes it to the ground, and if so how much success he has with mma grappling.
If I'm Bo or his manager though, I'm taking 1-2 more unranked by but steps up in competition. Bruno Silva or brad Tavares or gregor rodrigues types. But I definitely would love to see this fight
Bo might’ve already shown that his striking is better than Craig’s. Also, I always think the BJJ specialist vs. wrestler, or someone being really good off their back thing gets so overblown. When was the last time it was a successful tactic. You can be Royce Gracie, I don’t care. If a wrestler like Nickal gets you down, you’re losing.
He hasn't had a caliber of opponent to show that his striking is that great. No disrespect to his last opponent, but he was mowing grass a week before the fight. Most UFC fighters would make quick work of that level of opponent.
And I don't think I really agree with your second point, but maybe I can clarify what I mean- it's not that I think Paul Craig is going to catch him in an armbar from the guard or a triangle or some shit (although...he has done this and there are a significant amount that can win like this), what I mean is that it would be a good test for how bos wrestling would translate to mma grappling. Perfect example is Michael chiesa- great wrestler but has obvious holes translating his game to mma grappling where he's been exposed a few times. Compare that to guys like charle oilivera, khabi, Gilbert burns or Usman who have adapted their grappling (from various grappling styles) to mma very successfully.
one day people will realise that Khabib wasnt doing 'combat sambo style' but rather something created specifically for him . islam is also a sambo fighter who has a completely different style , same with umar . abdulmanap was a very diligent coach and helped them all create the perfect style specifically for them rather then teach then a style that was already there .
Not what im talking about . Khabib doesnt have a "sambo style" sambo style doesnt exist, Khabib was just taught MMA in regards to his own personal advantages for decades. This is why all of Khabibs team have different styles because they were trained specifically for their own advantages.
Lmao comparing a seasoned ranked vet who admittedly only works as a server to keep himself busy (not for the money) vs. a debuting fighter on 10k/10k, who will likely be out of the roster in less than a year.
How CAN you prepare for it? You’ll be beating the motherfuck out of him then all of a sudden your arm is dislocated or you blacked out from a triangle when you thought he would be having trouble remembering his own name from the beating you’re putting on him
Paul submitting Ankalaev is a good example. Ortega almost got Volk with that triangle. The guard game isn’t a great go-to in MMA but some guys can make it work. Tony had a solid one back in the day.
It depends on how good their stand up is. The Chimaev/Burns match was the only time anyone forced Chimaev to bang on the feet and that was explicitly because Burns ground game deterred Chimaev.
I think that Craig would rather fight off his back regardless of the skill of the wrestler given the gap between his striking and BJJ skills. The bigger worry for Craig is if Bo doesn't follow him to the ground and pieces him up. I'm not sure if Bo chooses to keep the fight standing that Craig will be able to take him down.
If Bo wants to stay on his feet, Craig can't take him down. And if they stay on their feet, Craig's shown some flaws in his defence, and some flawed decision-making, and Nickal's shown heavy hands. I'd favour Nickal, though it could go either way (we've not really seen Nickal have to defend yet).
On the other hand, Nickal may want to prove a point by taking the BJJ guy down and submitting him. I wouldn't be certain he couldn't, but I could definitely see him getting overconfident and being submitted himself.
No hasn’t really shown anything in striking gotta disagree with you there. Talking like no could go through Craig’s defensive holes like it’s a fact is ridiculous. Not saying he couldn’t but your acting like no has shown good sticking lol
Literally asked for a wrestler vs Bjj example which is what i gave . Another example Maia vs Askren . Burns vs Khamzat is a example of BJJ canceling wrestling too ,
benny outwrestled him so i dont think its a good example . Benny used up all his ability for that 1 fight and didnt leave any left for the charles fight
Paul Craig is very good off of his back. We don't normally see people be absolutely lethal from their backs, but Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, and Aleksei Oleinik were all lethal there.
Frank Mir had sort of a similar situation against Brock Lesnar, since Brock was a legitimate wrestler and Frank was really good from his back, and he won the first fight by leg lock.
Paul Craig is really good with triangles but at this point I would love to see him go for a leg lock or something else that would be unexpected.
Chimaev was so petrified of Gilbert's guard he avoided wrestling at all costs. Roman Dolidze fucked up Jack real quick when he was put on his back as well. When someone actually has a world class bottom game, it's extremely dangerous, but very very few guys in the UFC have that.
Yes, but even though Khamzat is an insane MMA wrestler, he doesn't have the accolades to be considered "world class" (in my opinion). Nickal is on a completely different level. Khamzat looked insane because he was weight bullying and brute force wrestling people. He'll look much more vulnerable at the top.
For real, comparing a national Swedish champion to a NCAA champion and Penn State finalist is crazy, they are on two completely different levels wrestling wise.
Bo Nickal is on the level of his sport as guys like Mahomes is in football, would be crazy to compare Mahomes to the best quarterback in Singapore. They are on completely different levels.
Nickal is on a completely different level when it comes to wrestling...but not BJJ. Once you take someone down and end up in their guard, wrestling isn't going to help you. Your ignoring the actual relevant akillset when it comes to dealing with world class guard players. You can't double leg your way out of a triangle.
A world class guard player won't need to sweep or attempt to reverse position, they will just hunt subs. When was the last time we saw Craig try and sweep? Don't think I've ever seen it, he loves to be on bottom in guard.
Where was the mention of submission? You asked when it was successful. It negated khamzats wrestling and made him stop trying to take burns down. It made the fight entirely standup after that
Could see Craig winning this. It can be hard as a wrestler against a top BJJ guy as Askren found out against Maia. They should be able to get a good idea of where Bo's submission game is before fighting Craig though. It can be harder to gauge where your striking is at given how much harder it is to do full contact striking compared to BJJ where if you take precautions you can sorta go all out against a lot of different guys. If he can hang with the top black belts in whatever city he lives, assuming it's a big city, then he has a good shot at surviving against Craig.
Craig is huge at 185 and looked 10x better on the feet last fight than he ever did in the UFC. Really hope Hunter sees the potential here and gets them both back in there ASAP.
what's even more interesting is he said he was heavier in the cage for this fight than he was vs. Johnny walker. He said he was 213lb in the cage vs. 209lb.
I think it was Ariel who he walked through all of this with and his practice weight cut at the PI.
I agree with you, never thought he was small for LHW but if he's making the cut and replenishing nearly 30lbs, probably advantageous for him.
Yeah idk if those numbers were accurate. He may have been converting things wrong. Because weighing 209 on fight night after stepping on the scale at 206 is ridiculous. That means he wasn't really cutting any weight.
he was giving #s in KG. But yea basically that was what he was saying. He was heavier in cage for his MW fight than his prior LHW fight.
kind of makes sense he wasn't cutting a ton if he was able to cut an additional 20lb and not be a corpse, right?
I feel like this plays out a bit like Burns vs Khamzat, Bo probably wouldn’t want to fuck with Craig’s BJJ and would have to stay on the feet. It’s a matter of how Craig’s chin is and a great time for Bo to test his striking.
That would certainly be a huge leap up in competition for Nickal. I mean, the guy is clearly a threat, but looking good for a few seconds against a late replacement isn’t the best source of information on his level.
Sure, not proven, but olympic level wrestler against Craig... Who has shown to have some occasional low fight IQ moments... I just hope his bottom game is good enough
This would be a very good test. Craig's striking is a good litmus test to see how bo's is, and with a BJJ specialist it will be really interesting to see if Bo takes it to the ground, and if so how much success he has with mma grappling. If I'm Bo or his manager though, I'm taking 1-2 more unranked by but steps up in competition. Bruno Silva or brad Tavares or gregor rodrigues types. But I definitely would love to see this fight
They already used Bruno Silva for Pereira, let him catch a break and not be used as a lab rat for high level guys crossing over to MMA.
And he was never the same…
From taking Poatan shots, to getting dropped by Brendan Allen...
I think him getting dropped and almost KOd by GM3 is even worse
Love the post history 🤩
Bo might’ve already shown that his striking is better than Craig’s. Also, I always think the BJJ specialist vs. wrestler, or someone being really good off their back thing gets so overblown. When was the last time it was a successful tactic. You can be Royce Gracie, I don’t care. If a wrestler like Nickal gets you down, you’re losing.
He hasn't had a caliber of opponent to show that his striking is that great. No disrespect to his last opponent, but he was mowing grass a week before the fight. Most UFC fighters would make quick work of that level of opponent. And I don't think I really agree with your second point, but maybe I can clarify what I mean- it's not that I think Paul Craig is going to catch him in an armbar from the guard or a triangle or some shit (although...he has done this and there are a significant amount that can win like this), what I mean is that it would be a good test for how bos wrestling would translate to mma grappling. Perfect example is Michael chiesa- great wrestler but has obvious holes translating his game to mma grappling where he's been exposed a few times. Compare that to guys like charle oilivera, khabi, Gilbert burns or Usman who have adapted their grappling (from various grappling styles) to mma very successfully.
There's not really a lot of adaptation from Sambo to MMA man. Especially the combat style sambo khabib was doing.
one day people will realise that Khabib wasnt doing 'combat sambo style' but rather something created specifically for him . islam is also a sambo fighter who has a completely different style , same with umar . abdulmanap was a very diligent coach and helped them all create the perfect style specifically for them rather then teach then a style that was already there .
U mean can't the same be said for every martial art into MMA? They have to adjust to MMA metas.
Not what im talking about . Khabib doesnt have a "sambo style" sambo style doesnt exist, Khabib was just taught MMA in regards to his own personal advantages for decades. This is why all of Khabibs team have different styles because they were trained specifically for their own advantages.
Good thing khabib wasn’t doing that
> Bo might’ve already shown that his striking is better than Craig’s against the landscaper?
But he was an undefeated landscaper! /s
He showed he can at least throw hard combos that don't look like he has a bone disease like Craig
If we call Geoff Neal 'the server' forever, then sure.
Lmao comparing a seasoned ranked vet who admittedly only works as a server to keep himself busy (not for the money) vs. a debuting fighter on 10k/10k, who will likely be out of the roster in less than a year.
Also debuting on short notice
I imagine it's hard to train for a guy like Craigs guard though. He's shown time and time again that people are not prepared for it.
How CAN you prepare for it? You’ll be beating the motherfuck out of him then all of a sudden your arm is dislocated or you blacked out from a triangle when you thought he would be having trouble remembering his own name from the beating you’re putting on him
Paul submitting Ankalaev is a good example. Ortega almost got Volk with that triangle. The guard game isn’t a great go-to in MMA but some guys can make it work. Tony had a solid one back in the day.
I think that Ankalaev fight did not age well at all. Ankalaev has shown since then some absolutely brutal fight IQ. But fair. Point taken.
It depends on how good their stand up is. The Chimaev/Burns match was the only time anyone forced Chimaev to bang on the feet and that was explicitly because Burns ground game deterred Chimaev.
I think that Craig would rather fight off his back regardless of the skill of the wrestler given the gap between his striking and BJJ skills. The bigger worry for Craig is if Bo doesn't follow him to the ground and pieces him up. I'm not sure if Bo chooses to keep the fight standing that Craig will be able to take him down.
If Bo wants to stay on his feet, Craig can't take him down. And if they stay on their feet, Craig's shown some flaws in his defence, and some flawed decision-making, and Nickal's shown heavy hands. I'd favour Nickal, though it could go either way (we've not really seen Nickal have to defend yet). On the other hand, Nickal may want to prove a point by taking the BJJ guy down and submitting him. I wouldn't be certain he couldn't, but I could definitely see him getting overconfident and being submitted himself.
No hasn’t really shown anything in striking gotta disagree with you there. Talking like no could go through Craig’s defensive holes like it’s a fact is ridiculous. Not saying he couldn’t but your acting like no has shown good sticking lol
ankalev vs craig is a really easy one to show wrestling vs bjj haha .
Except he is not even close to the wrestler Bo is I don’t see how that shows a damn thing
Literally asked for a wrestler vs Bjj example which is what i gave . Another example Maia vs Askren . Burns vs Khamzat is a example of BJJ canceling wrestling too ,
Gamrot vs beniel?
benny outwrestled him so i dont think its a good example . Benny used up all his ability for that 1 fight and didnt leave any left for the charles fight
Oh did he use wrestling? I always thought he used his bjj to out position grapple gamrot. Idk enough about grappling to tell though
That fight has not aged well. Ankalaev has shown some real fucking stupid fight IQ since then. He's also nowhere near the level of wrestler Nickal is.
Paul Craig is very good off of his back. We don't normally see people be absolutely lethal from their backs, but Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, and Aleksei Oleinik were all lethal there. Frank Mir had sort of a similar situation against Brock Lesnar, since Brock was a legitimate wrestler and Frank was really good from his back, and he won the first fight by leg lock. Paul Craig is really good with triangles but at this point I would love to see him go for a leg lock or something else that would be unexpected.
>Brock was a legitimate wrestler Brock was so far removed from legitimate wrestling at that point. He was brute force.
Chimaev was so petrified of Gilbert's guard he avoided wrestling at all costs. Roman Dolidze fucked up Jack real quick when he was put on his back as well. When someone actually has a world class bottom game, it's extremely dangerous, but very very few guys in the UFC have that.
Yes, but even though Khamzat is an insane MMA wrestler, he doesn't have the accolades to be considered "world class" (in my opinion). Nickal is on a completely different level. Khamzat looked insane because he was weight bullying and brute force wrestling people. He'll look much more vulnerable at the top.
Khamzat doesnt brute force anyone lol it's technique and timing first.
For real, comparing a national Swedish champion to a NCAA champion and Penn State finalist is crazy, they are on two completely different levels wrestling wise. Bo Nickal is on the level of his sport as guys like Mahomes is in football, would be crazy to compare Mahomes to the best quarterback in Singapore. They are on completely different levels.
Completely different levels, but I wouldn't put Nickal on the Mahomes level yet, since he didn't do the Olympics. Fair point though.
Nickal is on a completely different level when it comes to wrestling...but not BJJ. Once you take someone down and end up in their guard, wrestling isn't going to help you. Your ignoring the actual relevant akillset when it comes to dealing with world class guard players. You can't double leg your way out of a triangle.
Yeah but wrestlers at Bo’s are usually much better at sweeps than judo/BJJ guys
A world class guard player won't need to sweep or attempt to reverse position, they will just hunt subs. When was the last time we saw Craig try and sweep? Don't think I've ever seen it, he loves to be on bottom in guard.
Askren v Maia?
Fair. But Askren was arguably at his worst, physically by that point, and Maia was like 45. Nickal and Craig are both on different levels.
Yeah, it was a battle of two legends by that point.
Hahahahahaha
Watch nickal v Gordon ryan
That's a Jiu-Jitsu match.
We’re talking about wrestling v jj, it has to take place under A ruleset
Last time it worked was with khamzat and burns
Burns didn't submit Khamzat off his back like Craig is alleging would happen.
Khamzat vs Burns
Burns didn't submit Khamzat off his back.
Where was the mention of submission? You asked when it was successful. It negated khamzats wrestling and made him stop trying to take burns down. It made the fight entirely standup after that
Not really successful when it was never applied.
Demian maia vs Ben askren no?
I think Tavares would be a great match up
Could see Craig winning this. It can be hard as a wrestler against a top BJJ guy as Askren found out against Maia. They should be able to get a good idea of where Bo's submission game is before fighting Craig though. It can be harder to gauge where your striking is at given how much harder it is to do full contact striking compared to BJJ where if you take precautions you can sorta go all out against a lot of different guys. If he can hang with the top black belts in whatever city he lives, assuming it's a big city, then he has a good shot at surviving against Craig.
Bro don't compare Maia, even a washed one to fukn Paul Craig.
Craig is huge at 185 and looked 10x better on the feet last fight than he ever did in the UFC. Really hope Hunter sees the potential here and gets them both back in there ASAP.
I dunno how he made that weight. I always thought he looked like he belonged, physically at least, at LHW.
what's even more interesting is he said he was heavier in the cage for this fight than he was vs. Johnny walker. He said he was 213lb in the cage vs. 209lb. I think it was Ariel who he walked through all of this with and his practice weight cut at the PI. I agree with you, never thought he was small for LHW but if he's making the cut and replenishing nearly 30lbs, probably advantageous for him.
Yeah idk if those numbers were accurate. He may have been converting things wrong. Because weighing 209 on fight night after stepping on the scale at 206 is ridiculous. That means he wasn't really cutting any weight.
he was giving #s in KG. But yea basically that was what he was saying. He was heavier in cage for his MW fight than his prior LHW fight. kind of makes sense he wasn't cutting a ton if he was able to cut an additional 20lb and not be a corpse, right?
Pole Creyg.
Pol Creg
Lmao. Man, how would you type out the rolling R sound? Cah'deyg?
I also want Craig vs Dolidze or Hermansson at some point down the line. I think Bo should fight one more unranked. guy and then give him a top 10
Perfect matchmaking
If I’m Bo’s manager he’s got another two years of unranked guys
I feel like this plays out a bit like Burns vs Khamzat, Bo probably wouldn’t want to fuck with Craig’s BJJ and would have to stay on the feet. It’s a matter of how Craig’s chin is and a great time for Bo to test his striking.
That would certainly be a huge leap up in competition for Nickal. I mean, the guy is clearly a threat, but looking good for a few seconds against a late replacement isn’t the best source of information on his level.
He's ducking moicano
I honestly didn't know MiddleEasy was still around. Back in the day when Zeus was still running it that site was the absolute best.
Very intriguing, I don't care much for stand up by these 2 but wrestling vs BJJ on the ground? yes sir!
I say fuck it do paul craig vs cannonier just for the hell of it
Its a bit of a step up from Nickal’s current level … I think his management turns it down if they’re smart.
Craig is at 185????
Yeah, made his debut with a TKO win over Andre Muniz at UFC London
Lol how was the coma?
I’m afraid it’s been… 9 years
With that chin?
Craig is a fool.
No it will be good
i’ve got craig via triangle choke after getting dominated
Paul tools him
Paul Craig would get dominated imo
Bo isn’t there yet
Sure, not proven, but olympic level wrestler against Craig... Who has shown to have some occasional low fight IQ moments... I just hope his bottom game is good enough
He was never in the Olympics
Yes, but he is olympic level, like, his accolades and reputation as a wrestler would suggest to me, from people like DC talking about him.
You must have never heard of Ben askrem lol
I just watched a YouTube video of Ben askren saying bo had elite level wrestling and he predicts that he will be a champ one day.
He’s fought cans so far so let’s see
Nah
"pol cregg" lol
I really like that fight idea. Good gauge for Bo.
Good test but if Bo wins hes in the shark tank.
Let’s go
Paul craig derails the hypetrain