I don't typically talk about Dana White's Contender Series on here and now I'm talking about it two days in a row. We've gotten some legitimately interesting prospects over the last couple of weeks with Raul Rosas Jr. and now the second appearance of the season for Bo Nickal. Contender Series has lost a bit of it's luster in recent seasons with so many fighters being given contracts just to be able to fill out the bottom half of Fight Night cards, but I really don't mind it too much. It does take away slightly when you see a fighter given a contract and you're already planning to fade them against the first veteran fighter they face, but it is what it is. When we get prospects who seemingly have a championship level ceiling, it is exciting and that is what we have with Rosas and Nickal. Much like I did yesterday with Rosas, I just want to talk about what I thought of Nickal's performance and where I can see him going in the future.
To start, I think it is clear to most people that Bo Nickal has the potential to reach the very top of this sport. The skills we've seen have been fantastic so far. It goes without saying that his wrestling is ready to go against anyone in the UFC right now. Nickal is probably the most credentialed wrestler to enter MMA in awhile. We don't really see wrestlers come from the Olympic team into MMA like we used to with Daniel Cormier, Ben Askren, Yoel Romero, and others. Randy Couture and Mark Madsen also just popped into my mind. I'm not especially well versed in the world of collegiate and amateur wrestling, but Bo Nickal being a three time champion is a serious accomplishment that just doesn't happen. I suspect that his open mat wrestling would already be some of the best in the entire middleweight division. He will have to adjust to wrestling against the cage, but since he already has such a high level understanding of positions and techniques, I don't project that to be too big of an issue for him. We also know that he is a very good athlete. He's not especially muscular or bulky, but he is quick, powerful, and strong. We've seen him get takedowns without really even having to overpower anyone, but the power in his hands is very clear. He had the quick knockout in his professional debut and landed the massive left hand Tuesday night that I think dropped his opponent, but he quickly transitioned into a takedown that ensured his opponent hit the floor. Everything else in his game is a bit of a projection. I wouldn't say his cardio is a question, but he will have to adjust. We know he is a wrestler who obviously works extremely hard, so I don't expect that we see him just death gas after a round or something, but MMA cardio is different than just wrestling. The rounds are longer in MMA and the cardio when striking will tax him in a different way. I don't really worry too much about that, but until we see him fight beyond the mid way point of the first round, it will be a box that he has to check. The other thing that, while being a question, we have seen a touch of is his ground game. He seems to be taking to BJJ really well, albeit against a lower level of competition. He got the rear naked choke after taking his opponent's back in his first appearance on Contender Series and while that was a good sign, I wouldn't have necessarily called it impressive. What he did this time out was most certainly impressive. He got the takedown and was able to jump on a mounted guillotine that he transitioned right into a triangle. I don't want to overreact like he did this against a top 10 opponent, but for a guy who hasn't been doing anything other than wrestling for a vast majority of his life, that was some impressive stuff. Not only was he able to actually do it, but he had the confidence to attempt techniques that are relatively new to him. I think these are all really great signs for Bo in the short and long term.
There are two things that I think could ultimately end up making the difference in whether Nickal ends up being just a solid fighter or if he becomes an elite fighter. The first is going to be how he looks on bottom. At some point in time, Nickal is going to either be taken down himself or will have his position reversed and put on bottom. We have seen at times in the past that fighters who have these solid wrestling backgrounds sometimes struggle when they're not in dominant position. They come up in their MMA careers always having the wrestling advantage and don't get put into compromising positions until they reach the top of the division. I know DC says it all the time that wrestlers will revert to their old habits and end up going from a bad position to a worse one. Wrestlers often want to go to their knees and will give up their back in order to get up, so that is a pitfall that Nickal will have to avoid. He seems like a pretty smart guy and he's working with a good team, so I have to assume that they have him working on everything that he'll need. He won't likely be put on his back often or very early on, but he will end up there at some point and needs to make sure he doesn't expose himself to potential submissions. The big difference maker is obviously going to be his ability to fight on the feet. We've seen that Nickal has power and he can land. That is great against these low level fighters and is enough that he would get plenty of knockouts if he continued fighting this level of competition. I'm not really even that concerned with his offensive striking. Nickal is a good enough wrestler than he could be just fine fighting like Yoel Romero and just chucking over hand lefts until he closes the distance into takedown attempts. Tyron Woodley used a similar style when he was at his best. His wrestling is such a threat that he doesn't even have to be that good of a striker to land because his opponent will be so concerned with stuffing takedowns that he will have openings to land big strikes that wouldn't be there for lesser grapplers. I don't really need to see Bo Nickal throwing kicks, knees, or elbows. If he eventually develops those skills, then that's great, but I don't think he needs them to have success. What really matters, at least to me, is how technically sound does Nickal become. Nickal's path to success is to follow the route of Kamaru Usman and Charles Oliveira. He doesn't have to become a dynamic, masterful striker, but just a safe, competent one. He has the athletic tools that if he just throws straight, technical strikes, he'll be fine. The biggest unknown that ties into this is his defense and durability. Bo Nickal has never been hit and there's really no way to know how he reacts until we see it. We've seen some grapplers come from wrestling or the competitive BJJ world and just not adjust to getting hit well. While it is possible that Bo's chin just isn't equipped for this level of competition, I don't think it is necessarily likely either. He's in great shape and seems really committed, while already training at a great gym. If his chin was made out of glass, we would likely already know about it from training sessions.
The final thing I wanted to talk about is what the timeline may look like for him. When I did this with Raul Rosas yesterday, I said that I was at least a little surprised that he didn't get a developmental deal because he has so much growth and potential ahead of him. I think the exact opposite of Bo Nickal because his situation just seems so different. While he's a lot older than Rosas at 26, he's less experienced in terms of MMA fights. The difference to me is that I just don't think the regional scene has any benefits for Bo. He's such an experienced wrestler on such a big stage that any experience those small fights provide, Bo already has surpassed. Bo has already competed on a bigger stage than CFFC and he's such an advanced wrestler that he could just run through that level of opponent. Fighting those types of fights do nothing for him because he can just fall back on being 50 times better than the next best wrestler in those small promotions. I think putting Bo right into some legitimate UFC fights is really the only way for him to truly get better. I don't think just dominating guys in fights that take place in a local convention center does anything for his future despite the fact that he only has less than 3 minutes of total cage time.
We just found out this morning that Bo will be making his official debut in December against Jamie Pickett and I think that is appropriate. On one hand, Pickett will be by far the best opponent Nickal has ever faced. He can match Bo in a lot of ways, or at least challenge him. He's a fairly experienced striker and is moderately technical. He is a competent wrestler and is solid if not a plus athlete. Pickett has his cardio concerns and doesn't deal with pressure very well, but I think this is an appropriate step up for Bo. I imagine that we see Nickal pressure Pickett and he probably finishes him at some point, but Pickett has some of the raw traits to at least provide some real resistance for as long as he has energy. Maybe resistance isn't ever the right word. I think we'll at least learn something about Bo Nickal in that fight.
What do you guys think about Bo Nickal? What do you think his ceiling is? What is your initial reaction to his matchup with Jamie Pickett? Leave any and all other thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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