As soon as Bruce Buffer announced that Bo Nickal had beaten Paul Craig in their UFC 309 clash last November, the fans in attendance at the Madison Square Garden started to boo. And for good reason! The fans had just witnessed Nickal, the vaunted three-time D1 wrestling champion, one of the greatest collegiate wrestlers in history, indulge in an amateurish, lackluster kickboxing match with the 36-year-old, past his prime ‘Bearjew’. This is far from what people expected from the hyped wrestler, whom the UFC has been trying to mold into a superstar.
But even Dana White was disappointed. “Bo needs work. Bo is an up-and-coming guy. I know he has big aspirations and wants to move faster than he should. But he’s got work to do,” the UFC CEO told reporters after UFC 309. Clearly, the undefeated and prodigious Penn State alumnus has a point to prove in his next fight. This in podcaster Brendan Schaub‘s words, is “by far the toughest fight for Bo Nickal.”
The American is set to face celebrated former two-division ONE Championship titleholder Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines on May 3. Like Craig, de Ridder has very good BJJ; in fact, the Dutchman’s BJJ might be better than Craig’s. You will remember that Nickal’s underwhelming UFC 309 showing was precisely because the American was so apprehensive of the Scottish veteran’s dangerous BJJ fame. Nickal’s striking-only gameplan was probably a way to prevent grappling with Craig and risk a submission. So will the undefeated middleweight have a similar gameplan for de Ridder too?
Well, Schaub, who is one of Nickal’s biggest hype-men, thinks he better not. Instead, the former UFC heavyweight wants the undefeated middleweight to learn something from Khabib Nurmagomedov and play to his strengths. “Everyone knows I love Bo here. I’ve been champion. I’ve been on his American nuts since the day he graduated college. Even before then, huge fan of him at Penn State, one the greatest wrestlers ever to do it. I swear to God if this is a bad kickboxing match, I’m gonna lose my s–t, dude,” Schaub said on his ‘Thiccc Boy’ podcast.
“Take a page out of Khabib’s book f—ing dominate this dude… Set up your takedowns with your strikes, you take him down and you break his f—ing will. I swear on my life if I get f—ing three rounds of trash kickboxing. Buddy, oh buddy, his stock will go down significantly. Not only in my book but a lot of others dude,” he added.
March 2, 2023, Las Vegas, NV, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, United States: LAS VEGAS, NV – March 2: Bo Nickal meets with the press and the fans at MGM KA Arena for UFC 285 -Jones vs Gane: press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz on March 2, 2023 in Las Vegas, NV, United States. Las Vegas, NV United States – ZUMAp175 20230302_zsa_p175_028 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
For the unversed, Nickal did not attempt a single takedown in the aforementioned bout against Craig. But being a decorated grappler, this is something not expected from the undefeated 185lbs fighter. And looking at everything we know about Nickal, there is really no reason for the American to be afraid of grapplers.
Bo Nickal fought Gordon Ryan in a BJJ match and defeated an entire BJJ dojo
With a guy who has done as much against BJJ practitioners as Nickal, you would think he would be pretty confident against grapplers. After all, this is the same guy who just walked into a BJJ dojo and beat every belt level until he was held to a stalemate by the instructor, who was a black belt. Not to mention the Penn State alumnus also had a reasonably competitive BJJ match against Gordon Ryan in 2019. The man whom many consider the no-gi GOAT.
Nickal lasted almost the entire fifteen minutes. Moreover, he even managed to shockingly suplex Ryan during their clash. Ryan got the better of the three-time D1 champion in the end, but the point had been made. If Nickal could go almost fifteen minutes with probably the best grappler in the entire world, he could go five rounds with any grappler in the MMA world.
But curiously, Nickal seems to have forgotten this point in the UFC. The best fighters, like Khabib Nurmagomedov, fight where they are the strongest. They don’t worry about their opponents’ game plans and are confident enough in their skills. Moreover, they take risks to gain an advantage and then dominate their competition. What do you think about Brendan Schaub’s advice for Bo Nickal?
The post “Take a Page out of Khabib’s Book” – Bo Nickal Gets a Hard-Hitting Advice on Fighting Reinier De Ridder appeared first on EssentiallySports.