This should be an interesting debut for Nicoll. Australia’s Nicoll
has looked solid to date on the regional scene, doing his best work
as a wrestler and grappler but setting things up well with a
striking game heavy on pressure while also showing a decent amount
of patience. Given that his career has mostly been one-way traffic
and that the Australian scene is still generally subpar in terms of
churning out wrestlers, it’s time for Nicoll to get a step up in
competition on the international scene, which comes here against
Aguilar. Mexico’s Aguilar’s approach is fairly straightforward,
mostly built around winging as much power as possible in an attempt
to crash into his opponents and get into grappling exchanges, at
which point he usually jumps for his signature guillotine choke.
Tatsuro
Taira was enough of a submission artist in his own right to
shut Aguilar down and earn a finish himself. However, Aguilar has
stormed back in impressive fashion, quickly knocking out Shannon
Ross before earning a controversial win over Mateus
Mendonca in February. This is basically a litmus test to see if
Nicoll can handle the jump up to the toughest opponent of his
career, and he looks solid enough to be worth the flier. The pick
is Nicoll via decision.
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