Bo Nickal | A Step Up

“It’s really a great balance for me because while I’m in Pennsylvania, I’m at home with my family, I’m in the best wrestling room in the world day in and day out, so I get to improve all of those skills and be comfortable. And then getting to go down to Florida, train at American Top Team in Coconut Creek with a lot of the best fighters in the world, guys that have tons of experience, and some of the best coaches in the world, that’s something I’m extremely grateful for.”

The three-time NCAA Division I National champion as a collegiate wrestler has made the switch to fighting look relatively easy, going 6-0 with six finishes since he made his professional debut in September 2021. 

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Despite getting the victory over a proven UFC talent in Brundage, the Penn State graduate didn’t like his performance.

“My frustrations with the performance were really just the fact that I don’t think I did my best that evening,” Nickal said.

To be fair, it was Nickal’s first time seeing the second round, but feeling some resistance will likely be beneficial for his development. 

“Now I look back on it with a lot of gratitude and appreciation. I think that even though maybe I didn’t perform my best, that could’ve been what I needed to get some extra motivation and I was still able to get the finish, walk out with the win, relatively unscathed. Feeling a little bit more resistance in my last fight was a good thing for me and it showed me a lot of different areas to make improvements.”

Since joining the UFC, Nickal has often made headlines with his callouts, and overall hasn’t been afraid to voice his opinion regarding the fight game. However, becoming a father and focusing on his Christian faith seems to have brought more maturity and growth as of late.

“A big growing point for me has been understanding that my value doesn’t come through winning and losing,” Nickal said. “Winning or losing wrestling matches or winning or losing fights, it’s intrinsic. God created me in his image, same as everybody else, every other human on this Earth, and so yeah just tapping more into that versus feeling like I’m valued based on my performance, so I think that frees me up to just got out there and compete to the best of my ability and I don’t feel that extra pressure. I’m really just doing it because I love it and because I think he’s given me a gift.” 

As he looks ahead, the competition continues to heat up for Nickal. He clearly has world class wrestling, but he is aware of the grappling challenge in front of him on Saturday. 

“Paul Craig poses a really interesting problem with how good he is on the ground. It seems like he’s had a lot of big wins and they’ve all kind of been in very specific positions.”

It’s a meeting between two fascinating, but different, styles of grappling. Nickal brings elite wrestling, with a control style approach, which is even more critical against someone like like Craig, who is dangerous from bottom position. He has devastating power in his hands and is becoming a high-level submission artist as well.

Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview

On the other side is Craig whose skillset is widely known across MMA. “BearJew” has some of the best jiu-jitsu in the sport today and can secure a submission whenever he’s on the mat. 

As a veteran of the sport, Craig has loads of experience, having fought former champions and title challengers. He holds nasty submission wins over Magomed Ankalaev and Jamahal Hill, so if Nickal isn’t careful, he can get caught, too.

UFC 309 gets a banger at 185 pounds with this one. For Nickal, it’s his biggest opportunity yet and the trajectory of his career thus far suggests that he’s going to keep climbing.