Henry Cejudo warns Bo Nickal after Gable Steveson’s 12-second KO loss
Henry
Cejudo doesn’t want wrestlers to rush their mixed martial arts
careers.
Gable Steveson was a -2500 favorite going into his second Ultimate Fighting Championship bout against Sean Sharaf at UFC 331 on Sept. 19. Sharaf pulled off a historic upset by knocking Steveson out in just 12 seconds and Cejudo believes there’s a lesson to be learned about managing an MMA career for credentialled wrestlers like Bo Nickal.
Cejudo believes fellow Olympic gold medalist wrestler Steveson is still too green for the UFC. The former two-division champ wants Steveson to develop a well-rounded arsenal by focusing solely on striking for a full year. “Triple C” also hopes collegiate wrestling standout Nickal learns from Steveson’s loss.
“You cannot hurry up in the game,” Cejudo said on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. “And I hope Bo Nickal can also see this sh*t. You got to be able to respect the game, focus on mixed martial arts and just do that. My next thing for Gable Steveson is, he needs to take a whole f*cking year and just get better defensively. Because if he is just gonna strike, then strike for one whole year. You’re still young; forget about doing anything with matches in grappling and all this other stuff.”
Steveson (4-1) had finished all four of his MMA fights in the first round, including his UFC debut, before losing to Sharaf. Meanwhile, Nickal (9-1) had just one pro MMA fight before earning two wins on Dana White’s Contender Series to secure a UFC contract in 2023. Nickal went undefeated in his first four UFC outings before being stopped by Reinier de Ridder and has since rebounded with back-to-back stoppage wins over Rodolfo Vieira and Kyle Daukaus.
Gable Steveson was a -2500 favorite going into his second Ultimate Fighting Championship bout against Sean Sharaf at UFC 331 on Sept. 19. Sharaf pulled off a historic upset by knocking Steveson out in just 12 seconds and Cejudo believes there’s a lesson to be learned about managing an MMA career for credentialled wrestlers like Bo Nickal.
Cejudo says Steveson needs more time to develop after Sean Sharaf’s UFC 331 upset
Cejudo believes fellow Olympic gold medalist wrestler Steveson is still too green for the UFC. The former two-division champ wants Steveson to develop a well-rounded arsenal by focusing solely on striking for a full year. “Triple C” also hopes collegiate wrestling standout Nickal learns from Steveson’s loss.
“You cannot hurry up in the game,” Cejudo said on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. “And I hope Bo Nickal can also see this sh*t. You got to be able to respect the game, focus on mixed martial arts and just do that. My next thing for Gable Steveson is, he needs to take a whole f*cking year and just get better defensively. Because if he is just gonna strike, then strike for one whole year. You’re still young; forget about doing anything with matches in grappling and all this other stuff.”
Steveson (4-1) had finished all four of his MMA fights in the first round, including his UFC debut, before losing to Sharaf. Meanwhile, Nickal (9-1) had just one pro MMA fight before earning two wins on Dana White’s Contender Series to secure a UFC contract in 2023. Nickal went undefeated in his first four UFC outings before being stopped by Reinier de Ridder and has since rebounded with back-to-back stoppage wins over Rodolfo Vieira and Kyle Daukaus.