Henry Cejudo believes Bo Nickal is not ready for a top-10 UFC middleweight.
Nickal most recently competed at UFC 300, where he beat Cody Brundage by second round submission in what was a subpar performance by his standards, according to many in the MMA community.
Cejudo is one of those people who believe that although Nickal has the potential to be a world champion, he’s not ready to lock horns with the best fighters in the world just yet.
“Don’t put that pressure on you, if you’re disappointed in your performance, because quite honestly, I do believe you could be a future champ at 185 pounds – but you are not ready for the top 10,” Cejudo said on his ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast with Kamaru Usman. “If they put you up against big bodies like Marvin Vettori, who have good jiu-jitsu, big dudes and could also wrestle – even a guy like Paulo ‘Borrachinha’ (Costa) … I mean, he’s not quite ready for that top 10.
“I think at 185 pounds, he needs to go three rounds. He needs to understand that threshold because still him winning and beating these guys super early, if you want to be champion, how is it going to feel when you actually go five rounds against guys like Sean Strickland, Paulo ‘Borrachinha,’ Robert Whittaker, Jared Cannonier? That weight class is absolutely stacked. I think he needs to hold his horses. I think he’s still maybe 10 fights away from possibly becoming UFC champion.”
Nickal is currently 6-0 in MMA, with three wins in the UFC.
Do you agree with Henry Cejudo?
