American Top Team training partners Antonio
Carlos Jr. and Bo Nickal
have taken advantage of the close proximity of their upcoming
fights to help each other in sparring during their respective
camps.
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Carlos Jr., a jiu-jitsu world champion, will face Karl Moore in
a first-round light heavyweight bout at
PFL World Tournament 4 at Universal Studios in Orlando on
Thursday. Nickal, meanwhile, will square off against Reinier
de Ridder at
UFC Des Moines two days later. The 2021
PFL champion told Sherdog that Nickal continues to adapt well
to MMA and expects the three-time NCAA national champion wrestler
to perform well against de Ridder.
“Nickal has been improving a lot in terms of striking and, to be
honest, his jiu-jitsu surprised me a lot,” Carlos Jr. said. “He
brought a body awareness from wrestling that is very important to
MMA. He gets into good positions and doesn’t lose. I think he has
everything to surprise de Ridder.”
A former ONE
Championship two-division title holder, de Ridder has finished
13 of his 19 professional victories by way of submission. Despite
that skill, Carlos Jr. believes Nickal’s grappling translates
better to MMA.
“If you analyze the technical aspects of the Dutchman, he may even
have better sport jiu-jitsu than Bo, but I think Bo is much more
complete and does this mix much better,” Carlos Jr. said. “I’m sure
he will surprise on Saturday.”
After having four surgeries on both knees between 2022 and 2024,
“Cara de Sapato” guarantees that he will be able to return to the
best version of himself in the PFL World Tournament.
“I spent a year out of action (2023) and after so many surgeries, I
couldn’t reach 2024 in my best shape,” he said. “This camp was
different. I’ve already managed to train 100%, and I’m reaching my
best version and, without a doubt, the [training partners] that Bo
and I have at ATT is a big difference, and I hope we can show that
Thursday and Saturday.”