Bo Nickal has received a brutal fank criticism after his first UFC loss on Saturday evening, but one of the most beloved hunters of the sport jumps under his defense.
A term that has become popular in the Lexicon of the social media around MMA is 'fraud control', often levied with an undefeated hunter who finally loses in the UFC. Nickal has heard this term more than at least beaten by Reinier de Ridder at UFC des Moines on the weekend.
But Matt Brown, a veteran of 30 UFC attacks, believes that the expression is absurd and has called up fans for use on Nickal. The wrestling legend switched to MMA only a few years ago and after only seven professional fights had adopted a two-weight one FC champion.
Matt Brown defends Bo Nickal against 'fraud control' criticism from fans
Bo Nickal is a brash character, whose claims about the comfortable beating of people like Khamzat Chimaev have set him up for a fall when he loses. However, Matt Brown beat fans and claimed that he “had been controlled” because he lost a decorated star like De Ridder.
During the last episode of his podcast with Damon Martin; The hunter versus the writer, Brown said: “It really frustrated me and almost upset me to hear all these people say 'fraud check'. I am sure you have seen this. I am so, get the F – away here.
“Give credit where credit owes: the knight looked great. He looked great. He looked like a two -weight world champion that should look like from one. He looked like a man who has a bright future and has many big things to do.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
“Bo Nickal looked like a man fighting against a world champion with two weight that he was not yet ready. That is the disadvantage of a man like Bo Nickal who entered the UFC with very little experience and is thrown at the wolves.
“He has previously had some somewhat favorable matchups, not entirely favorable, but matchups that were very winning. De Ridder, we finally discovered where Bo Nickal should improve. He is not a fraud at all. The mother will be a top five man in the future, I can almost guarantee it.”
Bo Nickal responds after 'Fraud Check' branding of fans
Nickal himself is open about his experience in the aftermath of the fight, and noted that he received offensive messages, even from friends in the aftermath of his loss. He has previously tasted a defeat in wrestling, but this is a new and different stage.
“Yes, everything is so dramatized and people in today's time, there is never a middle ground,” Nickal said on the Ariel Helwani show last night. “It is as if you are great or you are the worst, and so I think that is really exactly what it is.
“People want the drama, and they want the emotion to be called, and so for me it is really irrelevant. I am on the path I am on, and I believe that the only loss does not define me.
“Even if I lose again, I could lose two, three, four or five times, but I'm not going to stop, and I just keep getting better and keep improving. I think there will always be an opinions of mine, and some will be high, you know, too high.
“Some of them will be too low, and very few of them will actually be correct, and that is not really influence on me. I just want to get better in fighting.”
Comments