Bo
Nickal entered UFC 285 as one of the most hyped prospects in
recent memory.
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The three-time NCAA national champion wrestler from Penn State
University largely delivered on that hype, as he submitted Jamie
Pickett with an arm-triangle choke 2:54 into Round 1 of their
featured middleweight bout. That performance came on the heels of
back-to-back first-round finishes on Dana White’s Contender Series,
which seems to forecast a bright future for the 27-year-old.
“I had a lot of questions about him and when you saw his opponent,
the guy is huge, he’s got like 25 fights, tons of experience. I
thought, listen, he’s a human being. I don’t care what level of
wrestling he is. This isn’t wrestling,” UFC president Dana White
said at Saturday’s post-fight press confernce. “This is a
completely different game here. There’s adrenaline dumps, the
nervous energy, all the things of performing in the UFC for the
first time, and he blew that all out of the water. He went in there
and looked incredible.
“[UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard] came over to me after and said, ‘You
know, he wasn’t even applying that choke the right way, and he
still got that choke.’ Wait till that kid is in the sport two or
three years.”
Nickal’s debut wasn’t without controversy. Pickett’s team is
planning to appeal the defeat due to an apparent groin strike that
may have aided the decorated wrestler in landing his first takedown
of the fight. Nickal
denied committing a foul while speaking to media in a
post-fight session.
“I hit him in the leg, in the thigh,” Nickal said. “I had him in a
bad position along the wall. He wanted to get off the wall and he
wanted the ref to stop it. If I were to have actually hit him low,
I would feel bad because I don’t want to win that way. I’m not a
cheater. I’m not somebody who tries to take short cuts. If I did
hit him low, I would’ve just relaxed probably or let the ref stop
it. But I didn’t hit him low at all, so it’s a weird move,
bro.”
Otherwise, NIckal was happy to get the victory but feels he has
plenty of room for improvement going forward.
“I could’ve done a lot of things better,” Nickal said. “I was just
talking with my coach and I have to stop throwing high kicks right
away because two out of my four fights, I’ve fallen on my butt like
a dummy. Yeah, that was fun. A little split there. I think overall
was as expected – not exceptional. It was as expected. I’m grateful
to go out there and not get hit and get the win.”