Bo Nickal suffered the primary lack of his profession this previous weekend in his battle in opposition to Reinier de Ridder, and his head coach is aware of precisely what went flawed.
The three-time NCAA Division I Nationwide Champion wrestler from Penn State has been one of the hyped prospects to return to MMA in fairly a while, and he began his profession with an ideal 7-0 document together with six straight finishes. Sadly, Nickal’s undefeated run got here to a staggering halt at UFC Des Moines after de Ridder began sturdy in opposition to him on the bottom within the first spherical after which blasted him with a fight-ending physique shot within the second spherical.
American Prime Workforce coach Mike Brown, who has been in Nickal’s nook because the starting of his profession, addressed the loss whereas admitting there have been a number of elements that went into that stunning defeat.
“Was a tricky weekend however perhaps one {that a} was wanted,” Brown wrote on Instagram. “Issues have been transferring quick for Bo Nickal and so far he was been capable of make issues occur and safe six finishes and 7 victories with the restricted expertise that he has. Bo has all of the attributes that you really want in case your objective is to grow to be a world champion in combined martial arts. He has athleticism, a robust assured thoughts set, an important household help system, and he began fight sports activities (particularly wrestling) at a really younger age. These are all of the bins that you simply need to verify when creating an elite MMA fighter.
“However the one factor Bo doesn’t have is stay combating cage time and for this there isn’t any substitution. MMA battle expertise is essential and precise time within the cage is extraordinarily essential. As a staff we had our considerations about transferring so quick and we notice the risks of combating such excessive stage opponents so early, however Bo is a novel athlete and the UFC has him on a quick monitor.”
Nickal was really a large favourite going into the battle regardless of taking up an opponent with greater than 3 times as a lot expertise with a powerful resume after de Ridder was really a two-division champion in ONE Championship.
From the beginning of the battle, de Ridder by no means backed down from pursuing Nickal throughout the cage and he constantly battered him with strikes, particularly to the physique, every time they’d lock up within the clinch.
The repeated physique blows additionally paid off big when de Ridder noticed a gap to unleash an enormous knee strike up the center that blasted Nickal and despatched him crashing to the canvas to finish the battle.
“This previous weekend Bo’s lack of expertise confirmed, his wrestling and athleticism wasn’t sufficient to beat what was in entrance of him,” Brown mentioned. “Reinier de Ridder now 20-2 was a multi-time two division world champion in One FC a really respected group. Props to him for coming with a robust sport plan and executing what was wanted.”
After all, the second Nickal suffered a loss, he was instantly bombarded with criticism that the 29-year-old middleweight by some means obtained “fraud checked” after falling in such lopsided trend.
Brown was fast to counter that argument with a delicate reminder that Nickal continues to be very younger in his MMA profession and this setback can solely make him higher transferring ahead.
Dropping isn’t supreme however Brown is aware of from his years spent within the cage and now as one of many prime coaches within the sport that falling down on this sport solely offers anyone like Nickal an opportunity to show he can stand up once more.
“That is the battle sport and it’s cliche however that is the place we be taught,” Brown mentioned. “That is the place we make modifications and the place we make the largest good points. I’m assured that that is going to gasoline Bo and it’ll assist him direct his focus to a different stage.
“To all of the critics canine piling, bear in mind Bo is nothing greater than a person in an area attempting to help himself and his household.”
