Bo
Nickal’s head coach at
American Top Team, Mike Thomas
Brown, believes a lack of experience led to his pupil’s first
professional mixed martial arts loss.
Nickal (7-1) faced a massive step up in competition when he took on
Reinier
de Ridder in the
UFC Des Moines co-main event. While Nickal was a sizeable
favorite going in, de Ridder scored a massive upset with knees to
the body in the second round. This ended Nickal’s seven-fight
winning streak, which included six finishes.
Brown revealed that they always had concerns going up against elite
competition like De Ridder, a former two-division One
Championship king. However, the renowned ATT coach trusted the
skillset of Nickal, a former three-time NCAA Division 1 ace. Brown
admits that while Nickal is a gifted athlete, his lack of
experience showed against the Dutch veteran. Brown is confident
that Nickal will only bounce back stronger from his first loss.
“Bo has all the attributes that you want if your goal is to become
a world champion in mixed martial arts… But the one thing Bo
doesn’t have is live fighting cage time and for this there is no
substitution,” Brown wrote on Instagram. “MMA fight experience is
crucial and actual time in the cage is extremely important. As a
team we had our concerns about moving so fast and we realize the
dangers of fighting such high-level opponents so early, but Bo is a
unique athlete and the UFC has him on a fast track. This past
weekend Bo’s lack of experience showed, his wrestling and
athleticism wasn’t enough to overcome what was in front of him.
Reinier de Ridder now 20-2 was a multi-time 2 division world
champion in OneFC, a very reputable organization. Props to him for
coming with a strong game plan and executing what was needed. This
is the fight game and it’s cliche but this is where we learn. This
is where we make changes and where we make the biggest gains. I’m
confident that this is going to fuel Bo and it will help him direct
his focus to another level. To all the critics dog piling, remember
Bo is nothing more than a man in an arena trying to support himself
and his family.”