Bo Nickal asked to fight Reinier de Ridder.
When the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Iowa for the first time in 25 years, they’ll bring with it an impressive line-up of fights, including a big bantamweight headliner between Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo.
But perhaps the most intriguing fight of the night will see Nickal, a three-time NCAA Division I national champion, put his undefeated streak on the line against former two-division ONE world champion Reinier de Ridder.
It’s a significant step up in competition for Nickal, but as it turns out, the former Nittany Lion is the one who asked for a fight with ‘The Dutch Knight.’
“This is a matchup that I asked for, and I feel like it’s a matchup that’s exciting for a lot of reasons,” Nickal told Ariel Helwani. “He’s had a lot of success in other organizations and success in the UFC, and it’s a natural step up for me. I want to keep fighting better and better guys, and this is a guy with a proven track record and many, many finishes.”
“It’s an interesting matchup. It’s a similar matchup to the Paul Craig fight, where he’s got more of a jiu-jitsu style,” Nickal added. “I think, obviously, with him being on a win streak and having a different type of style on the feet, it will prove to be an interesting fight. I’m pumped up.”
Bo Nickal is struggling to find suitable opponents
Through four appearances with the promotion, Nickal is a perfect 4-0 with three of his wins coming inside the distance. However, his victory over Paul Craig at UFC 309 left a lot to be desired. So much so that even Dana White suggested that the highly touted prospect needed some work.
Still, the goal is to keep moving forward and testing himself with each new fight. Unfortunately, finding fights that make sense for Nickal at this point in his career has proven to be a tough task.
“There are some people who want to fight me, and there are a lot who don’t,” Nickal continued. “It seems like the people who want to fight me—it’s all upside for them, and they want to gain some clout off my name,” Nickal said. “As I move up the rankings, the people who don’t want to fight me have a lot to lose.
“It’s an interesting position, and in reality, there are only about half a dozen people I can fight because of what makes sense for my career.”
