Why didn't Paul Craig try to grapple Bo Nickal?

[Sticko]

Everyone wanted to see them grapple, instead Bo's gameplan was to keep it standing and not shoot a single takedown. Smart move if the goal was to win a boring decision which he did.

Bo outstruck Craig despite the fact that Bo currently has 8 pro fights and Craig currently has 28.

I believe Bearjew wanted to grapple and was frustrated by Bo's gameplan yet he didn't attempt any takedowns of his own nor any guard pulls. He often gets fights to the ground by pulling guard as his wrestling isn't good and he likes playing guard anyway.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Bodolfo hypnotized him

 

[Ara tech]

Everyone wanted to see them grapple, instead Bo's gameplan was to keep it standing and not shoot a single takedown. Smart move if the goal was to win a boring decision which he did.

Bo outstruck Craig despite the fact that Bo currently has 8 pro fights and Craig currently has 28.

I believe Bearjew wanted to grapple and was frustrated by Bo's gameplan yet he didn't attempt any takedowns of his own nor any guard pulls. He often gets fights to the ground by pulling guard as his wrestling isn't good and he likes playing guard anyway.

Bo was perhaps and possibly not confident in his ability to shoot without exposing his neck and back to submissions, and did not have a lot of faith in his top control game on the ground.

He played it safe. A win is a win, and the rest is history. RDR is elite, and he lost to him, mostly due to lack of experience in MMA and due to a huge gap of experience.

 

[KavkazDominance]

You think a BJJ black belt can takedown a world class wrestler lmao?

 

[ThaiSexPills]

You gotta be able to out wrestle an elite wrestler to do that.

 

[Mammothman]

Craig have negative fight IQ

 

[burningspear]

why dont you try exchange hands with opetaia

 

[wolffanghameha]

I don't know. It PC wasn't scared of ending up in really bad positions off a failed takedown, maybe it could've been a good idea to try and put it in Bo's mind, just to see how he reacts. Yeh it's unlikely he gets Bo down, but Bo would still have to defend it and it might affect his striking. Or it's possible Bo would feel confident he can defend very late, and it would affect his striking less (but then if he defends late PC may be closer to being able to use his BJJ effectively). He could use the TD threat to help the striking, whereas I think PC didn't care about being taken down at all. PC could just see what effect it has. Maybe it even makes Bo leave the gameplan and shoot.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

You think a BJJ black belt can takedown a world class wrestler lmao?

Tbf he did hit a beautiful double leg on Ankalaev but I think that was the one good takedown of his career

 

[Spath]

Tbf he did hit a beautiful double leg on Ankalaev but I think that was the one good takedown of his career

Didn’t he also display pretty good offensive striking against the ghost of Shogun Rua? After that I can’t remember him having much success standing against anyone outside of the occasional landed kick.

 

[Sticko]

You think a BJJ black belt can takedown a world class wrestler lmao?

So why didn't Craig try to pull guard which is what he usually does in his fights anyway?

 

[goOb]

Paul should have done this to Bo. IDKWTF he was thinking in that fight.

 

[AmonTobin]

Astounding that the fight remained on the feet the entire time. I was incredibly disappointed by the absence of grappling. I don’t care to rewatch the fight, but Craig, being the much more experienced guy, could’ve pressured him to the fence and clinched from there. It seemed like neither guy wanted to bother. Nickal claimed he wanted to test his striking. Not sure what Craig’s thinking was.

 

[Safton]

I don't really blame Nickal and his team for avoiding grappling exchanges. Craig is the bigger man. Hr has a very active, dangerous guard and is a one-dimensional (and frankly shitty) striker. I am of the opinion that Bo could have potentially had some success with TDs and top game to an extent, but it would have been a dangerous road to take as compared to relying on his power, athleticism, youth, and fundamentals to win a striking match.

The issue I had was with the approach they took to the striking. Nickal was content to stand at distance and have a relaxed-pace sparring match against the longer guy, lobbing calf kicks and the occasional noncommittal overhand. This played into Paul's hands by letting Craig circle at range and spam that body kick of his over and over, which is legitimately the only thing in his standup arsenal he's competent at doing. I mean for fuck's sake Craig was able to frustrate Borralho of all people using the same tactic until Caio made his adjustments in Round 2.

Bo needed to crash the pocket and extend his combinations rather than continuously let Paul off the hook and reset. Had he done so, he probably could have gotten him out of there or at least made the victory more dominant.