Bo Nickal Showed He is Legit on DWCS
Look out UFC middleweight division Bo Nickal is here. The highly touted prospect is officially signed to the UFC after winning his second fight on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) Tuesday night.
It took a mere 52 seconds for Nickal to submit Donovan Beard at DWCS10. The win brings him to 3-0 in his professional MMA career. Following the victory, Nickal, along with four other winners, were awarded a UFC contract.
As impressive as it is to go from not fighting in MMA to the UFC in four months, the crazier thing is all three of his fights have lasted a combined two minutes and 27 seconds. He is looking like a legit threat for the middleweight division after his first three professional fights.
A 33-second knockout of John Noland in his MMA debut in June was enough for the three-time NCAA wrestling national champion to be given a shot on DWCS. He did not disappoint at all, needing 62 seconds to submit Zachary Borrego in August with a rear naked choke.
All three fights were pure domination from the Penn State alum, a similar sight to his collegiate wrestling career in which he finished with a record of 120-3. Nickal was so quick and controlling in his two DWCS fights that he was not hit once by either of his opponents.
There was no doubt about him getting a contract this time, but the question of who he fights next has come up.
After securing the contract Nickal, called out Khamzat Chimaev who hinted at a move to the 185lbs division on Twitter last week and took a shot at the Swedish fighter who missed weight in his UFC 279 fight.
“If the UFC wishes, give me that Swedish dude,” Nickal said in his post-fight interview. “He might not be the best guy, because he can’t even make weight, but if that’s the case, I’ll take him.”
He later mentioned the idea of fighting Logan Paul in the UFC.
“If not, then give me Logan Paul,” Nickal said. “UFC debut. Me vs. Logan Paul, I know he has some skills. If we can’t do it in the UFC, let’s do it in the WWE. I’ll meet you in the ring.”
UFC President Dana White had high praise in his post-fight press conference for the last of 43 fighters to be signed to the UFC during the sixth season of DWCS.
“The kid’s confidence in himself is unbelievable, his game was amazingly well-rounded and yeah it was impressive,” said White.
While noting his impressive skill, White shut down the idea of Nickal vs. Chimaev post-fight explaining the career path for Nickal that makes the most sense.
“No, you don’t test him against ranked talent,” said White. “You bring him in just like you do any prospect and you build him up and give him fights. The problem is that there are no easy fights here.”
Nickal is looking to make his UFC debut before the end of 2022 and it would be no surprise to anyone if he comes in and dominates whoever he faces. The future of the UFC is in a great place with Nickal and 17-year-old Raul Rosas Jr., who won a contract on last week’s DWCS.
If Nickal can improve his stand-up game a bit — he already has some of the best wrestling in the middleweight division — then he could very possibly be a UFC champion in the near future.
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