Bo Nickal most recently fought Paul Craig at UFC 309 and extended his win-streak to a 7-0-0 record. He is one of the most hyped fighters to come into the UFC since he made his debut back in 2022.
Before transitioning to MMA, Nickal was standout collegiate wrestler at Penn State University and became a three-time NCAA Division I National Champion. He is also a holder of the prestigious Dan Hodge trophy, which he won in 2019.
When he made his MMA debut, he immediately gained attention for the two rapid finishes on Dana White’s Contender Series. He made both the fighters tap out in the first round of the bout, finishing Zachery Borrego in the 1:02 of the first round, and Donovan Beard in just 52 seconds of the very first round.
Known for his dominant grappling and submission skills, Nickal has finished almost all of his fights early by winning four of his fights via submission, 2 via knockouts, and a unanimous decision win over Craig. With his record and all the skills he has displayed, the 29 year old could have a long and bright career ahead, in the UFC.
His next fight is against Reinier de Riddler who has a record of 19-2-0, on May 3rd, 2025, at Des Moines. Riddler is undefeated in the UFC and has won both of his bouts so far. This could prove to be the toughest challenge Bo Nickal has faced so far. Reports state that if Nickal beats Riddler, he may get to a fight a top-10 contender next.
Bo Nickal recently went on the Ariel Helwani show and talked about why he doesn’t care about his place in the rankings. Nickal said “To me, the rankings are all just marketing.”
“I mean we have guys that are number 7 fighting for the title. No shade to them, that’s a great opportunity but if rankings are what rankings are… The guy who fights for the title should be No. 1, maybe No.2, but that’s not how it works so to me it’s all marketing, it’s all optics so I think you can kind of connect the dots if you see I was in the rankings, and now I’m not, and the guy I’m fighting is in the rankings, why would they do that,” Nickal added.
The UFC’s ranking system has gotten some heat before and Bo Nickal is not incorrect on what he said. In the past we’ve seen fighters such as Khalil Rountree Jr. maintain the 8th spot in the list even after a strong performance against Alex Pereira after UFC 307. Dana White himself was infuriated at the rankings post UFC 307. Even Nickal himself was removed from the rankings despite remaining undefeated.
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While others like Joe Rogan think that the UFC’s ranking system can rarely be questioned and is the best they have currently available, it is clear that some fighters such as Bo Nickal thinks otherwise.
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