Chael Sonnen explains criticism of Bo Nickal's UFC 309 performance against Paul Craig: "Khabib never bought into it"

Bo Nickal's performance against Paul Craig at UFC 309 left a lot to be desired. Among his critics is a man who is more than familiar with big occasions. Former UFC middleweight/light heavyweight Chael Sonnen had a recent sitdown with Ariel Helwani on the MMA journalist's show.

During the pair's conversation, they touched on Nickal's underwhelming win over Craig, during which the All-American failed to live up to the expectations. Sonnen was especially critical of Nickal avoiding the ground with Craig.

"Somebody convinced Jason Nickal's son, Bo, that he wasn't good enough to go the ground with Paul Craig. And somebody that's supposed to be in Bo's trusted inner circle, Bo believed him, and Bo cannot believe that. He cannot believe that there is anybody that he's got to back down from. And if he does believe it, he's gotta go back to the Contender Series. He belongs here, he belongs in the UFC."

Sonnen then highlighted how all-time great lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov never doubted his ability to outwrestle anybody, nor did Georges St-Pierre.

"Every fighter that's ever come through here falls for somebody on the underground forum telling them, 'You gotta go out there and trade hands with somebody.' I don't know why. Khabib [Nurmagomedov] never bought into it. Khabib would take you down and beat you up, and if you could ever stop it, he'd deal with it. Georges St-Pierre would take you down and beat you up, but if you ever stop the takedown, he'll then kick your head and knock you out too. But you always go to what you do best."

Check out Chael Sonnen evaluating Bo Nickal's UFC 309 performance below (1:46:59 and 1:48:52):

Ultimately, Nickal preserved his undefeated record via unanimous decision and is currently 7-0.

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Bo Nickal remains unranked following UFC 309

While Khamzat Chimaev ran through his competition en route to shooting up the rankings, Bo Nickal is not yet ranked. His recent win over Paul Craig was underwhelming and represented the closest he's ever come to ranked competition.

Check out Bo Nickal getting his hand raised at UFC 309 below:

Nickal is not yet part of the top 15 at middleweight despite Michel Pereira, who is ranked No.15, recently losing via lopsided TKO to Anthony Hernandez.