NEW YORK CITY — UFC middleweight Bo Nickal’s performance at UFC 309 got the Madison Square Garden crowd reacting loudly, just not in the way he hoped it would.
The undefeated wrestling phenom improved to 7-0 as a pro MMA fighter with a unanimous decision win against veteran Paul Craig in the featured bout of Saturday’s pay-per-view event. Nickal swept the scorecards for all three judges, although the fight was much closer than those scores indicated. The 28-year-old didn’t score a takedown or knockdown for the first time in his career, and landed 54 total strikes over the contest—seven more than Craig landed.
Following the victory, Nickal spoke to the media backstage at Madison Square Garden to give his thoughts on the performance, why he thought it was great, the crowd booing and chanting “overrated” at him, looks ahead to 2025, shares a story about his mother’s amateur boxing career, and more.
Check out the full media scrum in the video above.
