Bo
Nickal refuses to let go of his wrestling roots even after
transitioning to MMA.
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Nickal is a former three-time NCAA Division I national champion
from Penn State University. Nickal made his pro MMA debut in 2022
and found himself in the
UFC after just three outings, which included two in
Dana White’s Contender Series.
Despite being primarily a wrestler, Nickal has two knockouts to his
name and is showing progress in his striking. However, unlike many
other wrestlers who focus only on striking after finding success on
the feet, Nickal knows wrestling is his bread and butter. In order
to practice pure wrestling regularly, Nickal reached out to
American Top Team owner Dan Lambert. They built a gym just 10
minutes away from Penn State so that Nickal can train MMA in the
mornings and join the university team for wrestling practice in the
afternoons.
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“I wrestled at state college in Penn State and I love that area,”
Nickal recently told Demetrious
Johnson. “And I saw this kind of trend with wrestlers where
they all transition to MMA and it’s like, ‘All right, I knock a guy
out and now I’m a freaking striker.’ And I was like, ‘Nah I’m not
doing that.’ So I reached out to Dan Lambert at American Top Team
and we ended up building a gym about 10 minutes away from Penn
State campus. That’s where I started training. So they brought up
three full-time coaches up there: jiu-jitsu, muay thai, boxing. And
then basically what I am doing is, every morning training MMA and
then in the afternoons I still go wrestle with the Penn State team.
So I’m wrestling the best guys in the world almost every day.”
Nickal’s wrestling skills will certainly be tested as he takes on
veteran grappler Paul Craig
(17-8) at UFC 309
on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The undefeated
Penn State alum has finished all six of his pro wins so far, going
past the first stanza only once. Meanwhile, “Bearjew” finished
Andre
Muniz in his middleweight debut last year but has since
suffered consecutive stoppage losses against Brendan
Allen and Caio
Borralho.