Despite numerous boos from the Madison Square Garden crowd for a lack of sustained action and calls of “overrated,” former three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion Bo Nickal took a major step forward in his budding MMA career on Saturday .
Nickal (7-0) never attempted a single takedown in three rounds against veteran Paul Craig (17-9-1), but landed the cleaner shots on his feet en route to a tactical unanimous decision victory UFC 309 in New York. The 28-year-old Penn State college legend received a score of 30-27 from all three judges after three close but flawless rounds despite the crowd's displeasure.
“Honestly, I feel great. I went out and dominated for 15 minutes,” Nickal said. “These guys want to see blood. They expect me to knock everyone out in 25 seconds or suffocate them in a minute. The reality is that these guys are all professional fighters and have trained for over a decade. I'm in.” I've been excited about this achievement for two and a half or three years.
Completing the three-lap distance for the first time as a pro, Nickal sealed a close final lap when his left hand stunned Craig, a 36-year-old native of Scotland, inflicting a cut under his right eye.
Despite entering the game as the 12-1 betting favorite, Nickal took the time and effort to highlight Craig's limited attacking abilities as he focused his offense almost entirely on long range calf kicks and body punches.
“I dominated him and beat him,” Nickal said. “I think if there were two more laps I would have finished at some point, but I was happy with that. Let’s look at the greatest fighters of all time: Jon Jones, Khabib.” [Nurmagomedov]“APS” [Georges St-Pierre]“Mighty Mouse” [Demetrious Johnson]. They win decisions over tough guys. Craig has 26 professional fights and I have six. I whipped him for 15 minutes and I'm hooked.
Craig fought well, especially on defense, despite entering the fight having finished two of three fights since dropping down to 185 pounds in July 2023. But the submission expert never had the opportunity to test his vigilance on the ground against Nickal's wrestling and was largely focused on body kicks to stay close in all three rounds.
However, the loss puts Craig's UFC future in question as he fell to 1-5 in his last six outings.