Bo Nickal remains undefeated with victory over Paul Craig at UFC 309
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, November 16, 2024, for UFC 309, going down live from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Headlining the event is a heavyweight championship encounter showcasing former multi-time UFC light-heavyweight champion and current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones (27-1) 1 NC, who faced former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic (20-4) in tonight’s main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event was a lightweight rematch between no. 2 ranked former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (34-10) 1 NC and no. 7 ranked former three-time Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler (23-8).
Our feature fight of the evening came in the middleweight division between one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers on the planet in Bo Nickal (7-0) and one of the most dangerous BJJ practitioners in MMA history in Paul Craig (17-9-1).
Nickal had gone a perfect 3-0 inside his promotional tenure to date, and while Craig came in on a two-fight skid, he is the only man to ever defeat no. 1 ranked light-heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev, and was also the only man to defeat no. 3 ranked former light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill until Alex Pereira beat him at UFC 300.
Continue reading to see how our UFC 309 feature fight went down:
Official Result: Bo Nickal def. Paul Craig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Nickal opened up the bout utilizing his leg kicks, which Craig began to check before throwing a number of kicks of his own ranging to the legs, body, and arms of the wrestling champion. Nickal tried closing the distance to land punches but was unsuccessful in each attempt through the opening round.
After Craig seemingly won the first Nickal began to land with his hands in the second, beginning with an overhand left early on in the round. He then landed a number of them to the body, alternating between the body and head throughout the remainder of round two, also landing his right here and there.
Nickal continued to showcase his boxing in the third and final round, though neither did much through this five minute stretch. He hurt Craig with a left hand about three minutes in, and also let his hands go on a combinations in the final seconds, also wobbling Craig in that exchange.
This wasn’t the fight many of us expected, and it wasn’t the fight many of us wanted, but this was a great win for Bo Nickal, who came into UFC 309 tonight with just six professional fights and went the full three rounds for the first time in his amateur or professional career.
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