Preview: UFC 300 ‘Pereira vs. Hill’

Middleweights

Bo Nickal (5-0, 2-0 UFC) vs. Cody Brundage (10-5, 4-4 UFC)

ODDS: Nickal (-2100), Brundage (+1100)

This is another instance where Nickal is getting a main card slot ahead of clearly more deserving fighters, but the UFC is rightfully high on its top middleweight prospect. A decorated collegiate wrestler and former Olympic hopeful, Nickal has been a quick study since transitioning to mixed martial arts. Since his pro debut in 2022, Nickal has shown both knockout power and grappling ability to go along with his obvious wrestling skills. So while Nickal has been handed a fairly weak slate of competition thus far, he has handled things in the manner you would like to see from a top prospect, even if there are still plenty of questions about how he handles things when they start to go south.

Brundage is a decent step up from Nickal’s two UFC opponents thus far and has the chops to at least make this interesting. A solid wrestler and striker in his own right, Brundage has shown an ability to come in with a game plan and get off to a hot start. However, once things start to go sideways, Brundage can run out of ideas and make some bad decisions, with a recent loss to Sedriques Dumas heavy on failed guillotine attempts sticking out as a particularly poor showing. Nickal’s sense of striking range still is not the greatest, so there is the possibility that Brundage can stun him early, at which point there is a solid chance that he can jump on a finish. With that said, it is still much more likely that Nickal gets this to the mat in short order and runs shop from there. The pick is Nickal via first-round submission.

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Pereira vs. Hill
Zhang vs. Yan
Gaethje vs. Holloway
Tsarukyan vs. Oliveira
Nickal vs. Brundage
The Prelims