Bo Nickal reacts to UFC 300 main card spot, wrestling’s responde to Jordan Burroughs criticism

Bo Nickal reacts to UFC 300 main card spot, wrestling’s responde to Jordan Burroughs criticism

Contrary to popular belief, Bo Nickal didn’t put himself on the UFC 300 main card.

If there’s one major complaint about the historic event in Las Vegas on Saturday, it’s that a 5-0 fighter with less than six minutes of total cage time in his career occupies a coveted spot on the pay-per-view broadcast. Meahwhile, a litany of former champions and top contenders decorate the preliminary card.

Add to that, Nickal is an overwhelming favorite to win his fight with Cody Brundage. But that kind of showcase might also speak to the decision to place him on the main card.

“I guess first off, it’s not really me that decides that,” Nickal said of his placement at UFC 300 during media day. “I know a lot of people pull up the quote of me saying, ‘I’m a main card guy,’ and stuff like that, but I feel like at the end of the day, the UFC made a business decision, and it made sense for me to be on the main card.

“That being said as far as the opinions of others, they’re not super relevant to me. Those are going to ebb and flow, and I’m confident in a year or two once I’ve established myself more and built my reputation in this sport more, people will think it’s a no brainer and look back on it, and it will make a lot more sense.”

Even Nickal admits he was taken back when he first got word that he would kick off the main card. He was mostly happy just to compete at UFC 300, but he certainly wouldn’t complain about receiving such a prestigious honor.

“I didn’t expect it,” Nickal said. “I think that it’s a big honor for me to be where I’m at on the card and just to be on this card in general. Because there’s so many amazing fighters, and so many guys that have a ton of experience, and who are just doing big things in the sport.

“I feel like it says a lot about me, about the UFC and our plans and I think they align. I’m just grateful to be where I’m at and grateful to have this platform to go do my thing.”

For all the talk about his placement on the UFC 300 card, Nickal hasn’t really spent much time thinking about that. After demolishing his first two opponents in the octagon in less than four minutes total, he felt ready for a step up in competition, which is exactly what he expects Brundage to provide.

“I was excited for that,” Nickal said about his opponent. “Just getting to compete against another wrestler is a new challenge for me. Everybody that I’ve fought thus far hasn’t had a wrestling background.

“So this will present different problems for me to solve in the fight, and that’s going to be a big part of my development. Just continuing to get different looks and improve and feel different things in the cage. Hopefully he can give me a little resistance in there and figure it out.”

Of course, for all the wrestling experience Brundage may possess, he pales in comparison to Nickal as a three-time Division 1 National Champion from Penn State.

Those accolades help to explain why Nickal is considered one of the top prospects to ever join the UFC roster; he was signed after just three pro fights.

Wrestling isn’t fighting, but Nickal certainly got tested on the mats during his four years in college, and it seemed like he was preparing to strap on a singlet during the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Nickal got into a war of words with Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs, who was calling the matches for ESPN. Burroughs said he would absolutely target the injured leg of Penn State national champion Carter Starocci if they met in the upcoming Olympic trials. That didn’t sit too well for Nickal, who called Burroughs a “freaking fraud” for championing wrestling publicly but taking the spotlight away from Starocci and putting it on himself.

Burroughs remains a stalwart in the wrestling community, but Nickal says the reaction he got from other athletes and coaches after making those comments caught him off guard a little bit.

“It’s interesting,” Nickal said. “I definitely expected the wrestling community to be maybe taken back by it, or surprised, just given his standing in the community. But I’ve gotten a lot of support from people that are actually in the community, wrestlers, coaches, people that are in it. Not just fans that are watching from the outside.

“Everybody is kind of on the same page as me, so that was interesting to me. It’s not something I expected. I was just pretty much was frustrated with what he had to say and let that be known.”

Nickal crosses paths with Brundage on Saturday at UFC 300, and then he may do the same with Burroughs when the Olympic trials kick off April 19.