Henry Cejudo, a former gold medalist at the Olympics, is aware that making the switch from MMA to wrestling is not easy. Given Cejudo’s ascent to “Triple C” fame, it’s simple to overlook the fact that his UFC career didn’t exactly get off to a smooth start. In the local scene, he frequently failed to make weight, so when the UFC finally gave him a shot, he really made his debut at bantamweight. Cejudo won three fights after being permitted to reduce his weight to 125 pounds, faced Demetrious Johnson, and lost his 11th professional fight against “Mighty Mouse” in the opening round.
That setback caused a change in Cejudo. He modified his stand-up technique, gained more expertise returning to the title fight, and eventually won two UFC crowns. Even though it had just been a few fights and a few years, Cejudo had undergone a significant transformation between his first and second title defences.
He may be telling Middleweight mega-potential Bo Nickal to calm down because of that experience. At UFC 285, Nickal defeated Jamie Pickett with ease for a first-round submission, but perhaps he also displayed his inexperience. Cejudo agrees with Daniel Cormier that it is premature for the 4-0 pro to discuss fighters like Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev. According to him, Nickal needs half a dozen matches before he is truly prepared to compete at the top level and reach his full potential.
‘Huge hype around Bo Nickal’ – Henry Cejudo
“There’s a huge hype train going around with Bo Nickal,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel, “I did see some – obviously, he did win, but I also saw a little difference in the two 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.
“I was curious to see if he didn’t get the arm triangle, how was it that he was going to come back in that second round because there’s a lot of squeezing, there’s a lot of blood, that you’re constricting through you trying to submit somebody. 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.”
