Bo Nickal is brushing off fan criticism surrounding his UFC 309 win.
Nickal (7-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) remained unbeaten when he outstruck Paul Craig for a unanimous decision win on Saturday’s main card in New York. It was a lackluster performance from the highly touted standout wrestler, who was met with boos and “overrated” chants from the crowd of more than 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden.
Despite the hostile reaction, Nickal remains pleased with his performance.
“It was funny to hear the chants,” Nickal said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “It almost just made me laugh, because the crowd and the people that are doing that, I’m looking at – I’ll just explain it this way: When you get disrespected by people that, in my opinion, have no idea what they’re talking about, it’s almost a compliment.
“To feel that from the crowd, it almost just made me laugh, because it’s someone insulting you, who has know idea what’s going on. It’s almost a compliment to me, because I feel like I controlled the fight, I did everything I needed to do, and if I have a bunch of idiot drunk fans that don’t like the way it’s going, I think that’s actually probably a good thing.”
Nickal was, however, disappointed with the broadcast commentary from Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier during his fight with Craig (17-9-1 MMA, 9-9-1 UFC), specifically pointing out Cormier’s comments.
“When I watched the fight back, something that was a little disappointing was the commentary and just kind of hearing the way that they were looking at the fight,” Nickal said. “It made me feel like they didn’t really know what was going on as much, because anybody that I’ve talked to that are people that I trust, that shoot straight with me, they’re like, ‘Dude, you shut that guy out, domination, it was a flawless victory.’
“To hear things like DC say, ‘Oh, he’s not ready for Khamzat.’ I think he was kind of trying to be respectful but also trying to, like, maybe set me down a peg. It was just weird to hear. But I just feel like the people I know, who are in my corner, who would give me honest feedback, they’re very happy with the victory. I was very happy with the victory. So that’s what I really care about at the end of the day, but it was a little disappointing to hear some of those comments from people that I respect a lot.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
