Bo Nickal stepped into UFC Des Moines carrying the weight of sky-high expectations. An undefeated powerhouse, handpicked by Dana White, and backed by three NCAA Division I wrestling titles. But he didn’t leave with the same shine. Instead, he walked out with his undefeated record snapped and his invincible image cracked wide open. Reinier de Ridder didn’t just hand Nickal his first professional loss; he peeled back the curtain on long-suspected weaknesses in the rising star’s game.
And though the 29-year-old kept his chin up on Instagram, thanking fans and vowing to bounce back. However, it now seems that he has not only suffered his first loss but even lost his place as the best wrestler in the UFC. Well, that’s what Gable Steveson thinks. The former Tokyo Olympics gold medalist sat down for a chat with Mike Perry on his ‘Overdogs Podcast’. The wrestling prodigy is now setting his sights on the next chapter of his journey, as rumors continue to swirl about when and where he’ll finally make his long-anticipated UFC debut. But it seems he has already picked his favorite wrestler.
While speaking to Perry, he picked his top three wrestlers. Surprisingly, he didn’t put Nickal in the list. The 24-year-old said, “I don’t want to be biased or nothing, but you got to put Jon number one. You have to. And then I would say you gotta put Bo Nickal two from a wrestling point of view. I’m sorry Bo Nickal hasn’t wrestled in a fight. So I am sorry. We can’t even put him number two. We got to put Khamzat two. So if we’re talking, we’re talking if we are going to say overall wrestling, just from USA wrestling, Bo Nickal number one. But we’ve got to put Jon number one. We had to put Khamzat two. You gotta throw a Paddy in there.”
Bo Nickal has always worn his wrestling credentials like a badge of honor. So much so that, in 2022, he made headlines by boldly calling out a former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. During an interview with Michael Bisping, Nickal didn’t quite mince his words and said, “I’m gonna bring him to the ground. He’s never fought anybody with one-tenth of the wrestling that I have, with one-tenth of the jiu-jitsu that I have.” Well, Nickal is facing a lot of criticism after losing his first fight. However, he has found support from the man whom he once dared to challenge.
Israel Adesanya feels Bo Nickal is here to say and will be back with a bang
Bo Nickal had been enjoying a perfect record in the UFC till his last fight against Ridder. The bright prospect in the middleweight division was considered the next big thing in the sport. However, his last two fights have not quite impressed the fans at all. As is often the case in the world of MMA, the tide of public opinion shifted swiftly. Fans turned on the former wrestling star, flooding social media with criticism and reminding him that, despite the hype, he’s far from living up to the lofty expectations placed on him. Nickal is confident that he will come back from the loss, and so is former champion Israel Adesanya.
‘Izzy’ took to his YouTube channel and said, “He looks good striking, but he’s not comfortable. He hurt him, but he didn’t know how to get close”, after Nickal’s last fight at UFC 309 against Paul Craig. The Last Stylebender’s earlier assessment rang even truer in the wake of Nickal’s defeat to Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines. The loss was a bitter pill for the once red-hot prospect. However, with grit and determination, the path to redemption is still within reach. The Nigerian-Kiwi can relate all too well to what Nickal is facing, he’s enduring a rough patch of his own. He recognizes that the 29-year-old still holds plenty of promise, but turning things around won’t come easily.
He showed some confidence during his UFC 315, prediction YouTube video, and said, “Yeah, he will be back! He knows what to do, he knows the game. But this is not wrestling, this is fighting, and there are levels to this, and eventually, he’ll be back and he’ll learn from this. I don’t think he’ll be the guy to just go away and fade away. He’ll learn from this, climb the ranks, and do what he wants to do.” Can Bo Nickal prove his critics wrong again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The post Bo Nickal Faces Rejection as Jon Jones Bias Reflects in Gable Steveson’s Top 3 UFC Wrestlers List appeared first on EssentiallySports.
