Bo Nickal Says Makhachev Would Not Survive Elite Freestyle Wrestling

In a recent conversation with Ariel Helwani, Bo Nickal was asked whether welterweight champion Islam Makhachev could hold his own against elite wrestlers under freestyle rules. "Islam? No, he's going to get killed."

The former NCAA champion went further, claiming that he is the only MMA fighter who can genuinely compete with real wrestlers. In his view, there is a huge gap between grappling inside the octagon and competing against specialists who have spent their whole careers on the mat.

The Sean Brady example

To back up his point, the 30-year-old brought up Sean Brady, whom he called one of the best grapplers at 170 pounds. At RAF 12, Brady faced 38-year-old Jordan Burroughs, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, and lost 11-0 by technical fall. Nickal said that if Brady had faced full-time competitors such as Jason Nolf or Levi Haines, the gap would have been even larger, especially since Burroughs had barely wrestled for about three years and is still one of the greatest of all time. MMA grapplers who enter the wrestling scene are simply not competitive, he said, with himself as the lone exception.

Not the first to question Makhachev

The Penn State graduate won three NCAA Division I titles and reached the final in all four of his college seasons, although he also lost a freestyle match to Max McEnelly, another NCAA Division I champion, at RAF 12.

Burroughs has also questioned Makhachev's wrestling. He previously responded to Makhachev's claim that he could defend the Olympian's double-leg, noting how Ian Machado Garry fended off the champion's leg attacks at UFC 330. Other UFC fighters have also competed in RAF: Arman Tsarukyan lost 5-3 to Colby Covington at RAF 11, while Merab Dvalishvili beat Henry Cejudo 11-8 in their first freestyle meeting before Cejudo pinned him in 36 seconds at RAF 12.