“At the end of the day, say what you want. But when I get back on top and I’m the freaking champion of the world, you all will come crawling back.” That was Bo Nickal clapping back at his haters in a now-deleted rant on his YouTube channel. The red-hot middleweight prospect was definitely humbled by former ONE Championship double champ Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines. But that didn’t kill his fire to bounce back.
UFC fans knew Nickal as the undefeated phenom—someone who dominated his opponents with relentless wrestling and barely broke a sweat doing it. But things took a turn when the former NCAA superstar suffered his first loss to ‘RDR’, despite walking in as the heavy favorite. The backlash was brutal, with some even labeling him as “fraud checked.” Now under pressure, Nickal has taken a moment to reflect on his journey NCAA and Freestyle journey, with one clear message: he’s far from done.
Bo Nickal draws motivation from NCAA days to fuel his UFC return
The whole hype around Bo Nickal was about how much of a beast he was during his NCAA and freestyle wrestling days. However, that journey wasn’t exactly a bed of roses. It came with its fair share of setbacks. He lost to Miles Martin at the 2016 NCAA Championships and failed to capture the gold. That’s not all, Nickal also lost to David Taylor at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. But he bounced back from those defeats and went on to become a three-time champion.
Nickal shared his entire journey on Instagram, including pictures from his amateur MMA days and his fight at Dana White’s Contender Series—all the way up to his recent loss against Reinier de Ridder. He captioned the post, “Goal remains the same. Grateful for this path. Excited to get back in the octagon soon.” That post made it clear as daylight that the middleweight prospect still holds on to his ambition and fully expects his UFC career to play out the way he always envisioned.
The Penn State native already has support from Henry Cejudo, who’s even offered to become his trainer and help fix the mistakes Nickal made in his last fight. On top of that, he trains at American Top Team, where he’ll likely get more focused preparation under the guidance of renowned coach Mike Brown. But there’s also one big problem.
Experience is something both Nickal and his team have acknowledged as a key issue. However, there weren’t many details shared about exactly what went wrong against a seasoned veteran like Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines. That said, the 185 lbs prospect has now chimed in with some insight into what really happened during the fight.
Nickal admits he should’ve stayed out of Reinier de Ridder’s range
Bo Nickal entered as the surging favorite against Reinier de Ridder, but one question lingered—could he manage the distance? That concern first popped up after his fight with Paul Craig at UFC 309, where he struggled in that area. As it turned out, de Ridder was on another level when it came to controlling the fight on the feet. Nickal has admitted he lacked the experience to handle those situations effectively.
The former NCAA champ opened up on a YouTube video, “There was no reason for me to be in the situations that I was in the fight and the positions that I was in the fight. Given my skillset and his skillset. I should’ve been way further out of the range, moving. That, to me, just has to do with experience. I wasn’t even thinking about the scorecards. I was like—This is not going well for me.”
Nickal had a hard and uncomfortable night, especially with RDR’s knees and body shots. And since he’s now looking for a quick turnaround against a real opponent, it will be interesting to see how his coaches deal with those mistakes.
The real question is whether they can turn him into a full mixed martial artist, not just a wrestler who can box a little. So, who do you think should let Bo Nickal back into the Octagon? Should he take a break and fight someone lower in the rankings? Or should he try to get into the top 15 again? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
The post Bo Nickal Looks Back at His NCAA Past for Motivation as He Prepares for His UFC Comeback appeared first on EssentiallySports.
