UFC 300 video: Bo Nickal ‘embarrassed’ by his performance after submitting Cody Brundage in second round

Bo Nickal stayed undefeated with his latest win at UFC 300 but he expected a lot more out of himself.

Despite a dominant finish, the three-time NCAA champion wrestler had to battle for every position against Cody Brundage before eventually taking his back and locking on a rear-naked choke for the finish. The tap came at 3:38 in the second round, which is by far the longest fight of Nickal’s six-fight career.

Afterwards, Nickal expressed his frustration with the win.

“I feel like I’m a little bit embarrassed with that performance,” Nickal said. “I expect to go out there and completely dominate and shut this guy out. I was able to have that experience under my belt now. He came out to fight, which is great and for me, it’s a great learning experience.

“I’m just grateful for all the people who support me. The more I win these fights, I’m going to keep climbing up and keep dominating. You’re all going to love me! Take anybody in the division, I’m coming for you guys.”

Almost like he was fighting with house money, Brundage started throwing bombs right away trying to surprise Nickal, who has barely been touched on the feet during his brief MMA career. Nickal eventually closed the distance to get the takedown and he began working to take the back with Brundage trying to play defense on the ground.

Nickal began looking for a choke but Brundage escaped momentarily, although he couldn’t quite get back to his feet. Instead, Nickal scrambled to take the back again but Brundage stalled him out by grabbing an arm to prevent any submission attempts until the horn sounded to signal the end of the first round.

In the restart, Brundage shrugged off an early takedown attempt from Nickal but the Penn State alum stayed tenacious and he eventually got the fight down to the canvas. Nickal remained methodical in his approach as he eventually advanced into the mount with Brundage stuck underneath him.

Nickal eventually scrambled to take the back again but this time he locked on a body triangle and he quickly slipped the arm under the chin to lock on the rear-naked choke. A grimace washed across Brundage’s face as he quickly tapped out to stop the fight.

As soon as the fight was over, Nickal jumped up from the mat and gave himself two thumbs down as he clearly wasn’t happy with his showing in this latest win. Regardless of his disappointment, Nickal remains one of the top prospects on the entire UFC roster and this latest victory will only push him forward after moving to 6-0 in his career.