Jamie Pickett responds to Bo Nickal's low blow at UFC 285

Bo Nickal and Jamie Pickett faced off in the main card opener at UFC 285 in a middleweight bout. The fight lasted just two minutes and 54 seconds as Nickal swiftly submitted Pickett with an arm-triangle choke.

However, the win was controversial due to the circumstances that led to the submission. Nickal seemingly struck Pickett in the groin illegally with his knee before taking him down. That very takedown proved to be enough as Nickal patiently controlled his opponent and waited for an opening.

'The Allen Assassin' then capitalized and submitted his opponent to win on debut, extending his mixed martial arts record to an unbeaten 4-0.

Post-fight, Jamie Pickett's manager confirmed their intention to appeal the decision after the fight. The fighter himself also recently took to Instagram to issue a statement.

Pickett clarified that Nickal's actions were wrong despite it not being malicious and further explained how he felt after being taken down:

"Saying this again, I don't think he did it on purpose and I don't think he is a damn cheater. The fact is I was low blowed and that's how I was taken down and I wanted to throw up while I was on the ground. Right is right and wrong is wrong."

Check out Pickett's Instagram story as posted on Reddit:

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Henry Cejudo advises Bo Nickal to fight six more times before facing a top 10 opponent

Former bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo was in attendance at UFC 285 and watched Nickal defeat Pickett in the first round.

Cejudo later offered some advice to the former NCAA wrestler, being from a wrestling background himself and an Olympic winner. He said in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel:

“He [Nickal] did win, but I also saw a little difference in him too because he did struggle to get that takedown. MMA wrestling, it is different than NCAA Wrestling. They have to continue to keep building Bo Nickal. If they don’t build Bo Nickal, when they give him somebody tough, Bo Nickal is going to struggle because I saw what I had to see within those first two minutes."

'Triple C' then gave Nickal a specific number of fights to target before pursuing a matchup with a top 10 contender:

"But other than that, again, I had it first-round submission, it happened. But moving forward, Bo Nickal, I hope you’re listening: You’re gonna need about six fights like this before you start getting up to, like, the top 10.”

Check out Henry Cejudo's comments on his YouTube channel: