“One of the best American wrestlers of all time, Bo Nickal, ended up on his knees in the fetal position, gave up from body shots, and didn’t even go out fighting on his shield.” Dillon Danis wrote on X as he became the primary voice of social media critics after Bo Nickal suffered the first defeat of his career at the hands of Reinier de Ridder. The dust hasn’t settled yet, as the criticisms are still flying. The lights at UFC Des Moines were focused on Nickal as he squared up against de Ridder, determined to shed his prospect label and emerge as a true contender.
But the former two-division ONE Championship titleholder’s years of martial arts experience completely overshadowed the former NCAA superstar. ‘The Dutch Knight’ dismantled Nickal with punishing knees to the body and perfectly placed shots. With nowhere to escape, the referee stepped in to stop the UFC’s hottest prospect from taking further damage as he lay on the canvas, shattered. Immediately after the monumental loss, fingers were pointed at the Penn State Alum, mostly questioning his ability to respond to and recover from de Ridder’s shots.
However, many in the wrestling community, including Henry Cejudo, stood up in his defense. ‘Triple C’ wrote on his social media handles about how he faced a similar situation at UFC 197 when he failed to beat Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight crown. However, he made changes in his style and then finally stopped Johnson’s iconic 125lbs title reign two years later at UFC 227.
Cejudo believes Nickal can also do the same! And now Sean O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch, has also fired back at the critics in an Instagram video, challenging them to run a sprint and then take a body shot or knee like Nickal did, just to get a taste of the pain he was dealing with. Taking to his Instagram, Welch said, “If you guys think in your mind that Bo Nickal gave up, I want you to go to your front yard or backyard, hit 10 or 30-yard sprints. Really dig in, get your heart rate up, get your breathing hard. Then grab your dad, your neighbour, your cousin, your uncle, or anyone, and have them hit below your right nipple.”
He added, “About 4 inches down at that bottom rib. Drive a liver shot. I want you to close your eyes and put your hands above your head, and cool down from your sprints and have them drive a liver shot. Where the bottom rib punctures into the liver, and if they don’t know how to punch the liver, maybe they can drive a hard knee right into your liver and then tell me how you feel. People who have said that he gave up, were never hit with a body shot before in their life, you don’t understand how you feel. It shuts your organs down, it shuts your whole body down.”
O’Malley’s coach is absolutely on point, breaking down why recovering from those body shots and knees was nearly impossible for Bo Nickal. Sometimes, fighters get rocked by well-placed jabs, and here we’re talking about knees to the body, in the middleweight division, where the power level is on a whole different scale. The Dutchman was definitely locked in that night, and simply put, he was the better man. Still, Welch believes this loss will only fuel Nickal to come back even stronger.
Tim Welch believes Bo Nickal will be more motivated by this loss
The loss of a promising fighter always stings. Bo Nickal’s transition from wrestling to MMA and his rise into the big leagues is undeniably praiseworthy, but it also has to be acknowledged that he may have been a bit underprepared to face someone as experienced as Reinier de Ridder. Tim Welch, while noting that ‘RDR’ has what it takes to become champion, also expressed his belief that this setback will only help transform the Penn State Alum as he prepares for future opponents.
Welch, while continuing his Instagram video, said, “That Reinier de Ridder guy is a bad mothe—–er, a champion in ONE, really good on the ground game, really good on his feet. There’s a good chance that he’s gonna be a champion in the future. For Bo Nickal, he was very, very confident. He should be very confident. Multiple-time NCAA Champion, undefeated in the UFC, he’s gonna be confident. A loss like this, I think it’s gonna get him fired up. It’s gonna get him more hungry than ever. Gave him a little bit of humble pie and made him turn it up in training and a lot more.”
O’Malley’s coach showed genuine optimism about Bo Nickal and his future. There’s a real chance he’ll correct those mistakes and come back as a better version of himself. The road has just begun! It’s not the end. That said, his striking will need serious improvement if he plans to one day avenge that loss to Reinier de Ridder. So, what do you think? Does Bo Nickal make a stellar comeback in his next fight to prove us all wrong? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
The post Accused of Quitting, Bo Nickal Gets Rare Backing From Sean O’Malley’s Coach After Reinier De Ridder Loss appeared first on EssentiallySports.