Sean O'Malley's coach labels Bo Nickal the "only hope" to beat Khamzat Chimaev: "He is one guy who could match his wrestling"
Sean O'Malley's coach Tim Welch believes that Bo Nickal might pose problems for Khamzat Chimaev inside the UFC octagon. In a recent video uploaded by O'Malley to his YouTube channel, 'Suga' and Welch were seen discussing Chimaev.
At one point during the conversation, Welch claimed that although Nickal would possibly lose to Chimaev at the moment, the 28-year-old could be a threat to 'Borz' in the future.
He also mentioned that Nickal could be on par with Chimaev in terms of wrestling skills:
"I tweeted, 'Bo Nickal might be our only hope.' [People] were fired up about that. I didn't mean Bo Nickal right now. [I] feel like Bo Nickal right now might get beat up by Khamzat. But, a year-and-a-half, if Bo keeps developing his striking, he's one guy who could match his wrestling in the middleweight division."
Check out Tim Welch's comments below (9:40):
Nickal has a background in freestyle wrestling and has won the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship on three separate occasions.
The Colorado native is currently undefeated as a professional MMA fighter with a record of 6-0, which includes three UFC victories. One thing to note is that Nickal has managed to secure a finish in all of his fights - two knockouts and four submissions.
Considering the run that he is currently on, it would be interesting to see how the 28-year-old would match up against Chimaev if the two get to share the octagon in the future.
Javier Mendez speaks about Khamzat Chimaev's skills on the ground
MMA coach Javier Mendez, who has played a significant role in the success of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev inside the octagon, thinks highly of Khamzat Chimaev's ground game.
During an interview with Red Corner MMA, Mendez spoke about the middleweight's ground game and claimed that it's on the same level as of Nurmagomedov and Makhachev's:
"Khamzat is different. He's not Khabib, he's not Islam. He's Khamzat. So, I would rate his ground skills as A+. A+ for Islam, A+ for Khabib, but they're all distinct. In my book, they're all A+."
Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (11:57):