Bo Nickal overlooks Khamzat Chimaev rivalry as he names top 3 MMA wrestlers of all time
02/19/2025 06:40 AM
Wrestling has slowly become the most dominant base for MMA and one of the best at it in the world is undefeated middleweight contender, Bo Nickal.
After bursting onto the scene in 2022 following two extremely dominant performances on Dana White’s Contender Series, Bo Nickal rapidly became a touted future UFC world champion.
The undefeated decorated college wrestler recently broke into the top 15 of the middleweight rankings after Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov suffered a defeat in Saudi, a fighter Nickal has previously feuded with online.
Bo Nickal names his top 3 wrestlers in MMA of all time
With wrestling continuing to dominate in MMA, many UFC champions have a wrestling base, such as Merab Dvalishvili, Islam Makhachev, and Belal Muhammad but Nickal has named his top 3 of all time.
“Khabib (Nurmagomedov), Khamzat (Chimaev), Islam (Makhachev),” Nickal answered when asked by a fan his top three MMA wrestlers of all time.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely regarded by the majority of the MMA fanbase to be the best wrestler of all time considering his extremely dominant run that saw him end his career undefeated at 29-0.
Nickal picking Khamzat Chimaev came as a big surprise considering the two have continuously feuded with each other online, potentially setting up for a future fight.
Although the 29-year-old maintained his undefeated record this past November against Paul Craig, his performance received some criticism as he wasn’t able to score the finish.
Despite that, he went on to claim that he would ‘ragdoll’ and ‘dominate’ Chimaev if the two fought, in a fight that would potentially show who is the best wrestler in the 185lb division.
What’s next for Bo Nickal?
With Nickal now finally ranked inside the top 15 of the division, his next fight should get him closer to title contention.
The 29-year-old is hopeful of fighting at UFC 314 after he leaked the alleged main event for the return to Miami.
Nickal is yet to have fought a standout striker during his UFC tenure and has pretty comfortably controlled all of his opponents with his wrestling.
It may now be time for Nickal to showcase other sides of his game and whether he is ready to be added to the middleweight title conversation and a fight against Paulo Costa could make sense.
The Brazilian is currently ranked 11 in the division and is 1-4 in his last five fights, meaning he will need to defend his ranking in his next outing.
