Back in May, former One Championship middleweight king Reinier de Ridder pulled the chain on Bo Nickal’s hype train with a TKO. After seven victories, the former Penn State wrestler tasted defeat as RDR literally knocked the wind out of Nickal with sharp knees to the body. Yet, the three-time NCAA champion promised to bounce back stronger, and what better way to hit reset than to go back to his roots?
Appearing on the July 3 episode of The Ariel Helwani Show, the former college wrestler revealed some breaking news. “There’s this lesser-known sport called wrestling. It’s a really great base for professional MMA,” the 29-year-old joked. However, he was quite serious about the next part. “I’m gonna, you know? Throw my hat in the ring and be doing some professional wrestling.”
Bo Nickal explained he would compete at the upcoming Real American Freestyle (RAF) event on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. And now the RAF01 lineup has confirmed that news, pitting Nickal against 3x NCAA All-American and 3x U23 world medalist Jacob Cardenas. Yet, the UFC middleweight’s bout with the former Cornell University wrestler won’t be your run-of-the-mill freestyle wrestling match.
Really accurate analysis from an outside perspective but a lot of private details missing that I haven’t spoken about publicly. Should I air it all out? @FloWrestling https://t.co/erXGxrhWty
— Bo Nickal (@NoBickal) July 9, 2025
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