Today, Bo Nickal is a decorated middleweight UFC star who never fails to entertain fans from inside the octagon. However, it wasn’t too long ago that the 29-year-old was mesmerizing the audience with his skills on the mat as a Penn State wrestler. A 3x NCAA gold medalist, Nickal was destined to make a name for himself in combat sports. And he thinks the NLWC has enough in its roster to continue producing future UFC celebrities.
Ever since Cael Sanderson took over the Penn State wrestling program in 2009, the Nittany Lions have risen up to be one of the most formidable forces in the collegiate circuit. Undoubtedly, Nickal is one of the greatest stars who came out of Sanderson’s elaborate camp and went on to create a wave in the UFC. For obvious reasons, Bo doesn’t want to be the only one to have made the successful jump.
On February 18, the MMA fighter seemed nostalgic about where he comes from. “I want to take a minute to acknowledge my roots,” Nickal wrote in an X post, and set the stage for fans to hit him up with wrestling questions, Before too long, queries started pouring in, with one fan wondering if Bo had any thoughts about wrestlers who could make it in the UFC.
“Carter Starocci,” was the first name on the 3x Big Ten gold medalist’s list. Starocci, a Penn State senior and a four-time individual national champ, is looking to make history in his final collegiate year by bagging his fifth NCAA D1 title, and Bo Nickal thinks the octagon could be the place where his NLWC successor could look to continue his career.
Carter Starocci, Tyler Berger, Tommy Gant, Archie Colgan, Austin O’Connor.
— Bo Nickal (@NoBickal) February 18, 2025
The story is developing
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