Although it has gone a bit cold in the past few days, Bo Nickal was one of the most hyped prospects in all of UFC history. The Colorado native, of course, is a three-time NCAA D1 collegiate wrestling champion and is looked upon by many as a future title contender. However, the middleweight grappler hasn’t helped himself with his recent performances.

While Nickal is still undefeated, he has only had seven fights in his MMA career so far, and dropped the ball hard in his last fight. The 29-year-old is coming off an underwhelming victory over Paul Craig at UFC 309, where he didn’t even attempt one takedown and was booed by the fans. This is why many feel his upcoming fight, an electric matchup against prodigious fellow grappler Reinier de Ridder this Saturday, is so important for him. It is a chance for him to redeem himself. However, according to Nickal, the bout against the Dutchman is much more important for him in another aspect.

“It’ll be very exciting. You know I’m super pumped to get that number by my name. I think that’s definitely not the ultimate goal for me. But it’s a nice step in the right direction to get to where I want to go, and it’s a super necessary step. So I feel like, you know, I’m not ever going to be the champion and be the pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world if I don’t get ranked first. So I think that, for me, this is a good sign that I’m moving in the right direction and continuing to improve and get better as a fighter,” the undefeated middleweight told ‘Shak MMA’ in a recent interview.

‘RDR, of course, is currently ranked #13 in the division, while Nickal is unranked. And a victory over the Dutch former two-division ONE Championship kingpin this weekend would definitely let Nickal crack the rankings. Like any other fighter, he can then make his way up to a title shot from there, provided he keeps winning.

But the Penn State alum’s aspirations are not limited to just winning a championship. No, he wants to be recognized as the best fighter in the entire division, and wants to become the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. This may seem like a very tall claim from a seven-fight-old fighter who is yet to fight a ranked opponent. But this is Bo Nickal, who we know has a championship pedigree and is potentially a Khamzat Chimaev, Islam Makhachev level threat as far as wrestling goes. But curiously, he seems more and more reluctant to use his wrestling.

Bo Nickal’s worrying game plan for the Reinier de Ridder clash

Bo Nickal not even attempting a single takedown against Paul Craig at UFC 309 was a crime against MMA. It is one thing not to succeed in a takedown, but not even attempting one? That would be like Steph Curry not attempting a single three-pointer in a basketball game. Why wouldn’t you use your biggest strength, the thing you are potentially better at than maybe anyone in the UFC, in a fight?

At least that is the question even his biggest cheerleaders were asking after UFC 309. Well, we do have some idea why the undefeated phenom didn’t wrestle with Craig at all. The Scottish veteran has an excellent ground game, and Nickal didn’t want to risk getting submitted. And what worries fans is that Reinier de Ridder is an even better grappler than the version of Craig Nickal fought at UFC 309. So, will we see a replay of the American’s UFC 309 gameplan, where he tries to keep the fight a stand-up affair?

It certainly seems so from his comments in a recent video on his official YouTube channel. “There’s a chance, you know, there’s a chance I shouldn’t take down this fight, but I don’t know, I’m kind of turning into a striker, so we’ll see,” Nickal said. “It’s, you know, developing, getting better. I think I’m a natural striker, so yeah. The overhand’s there, without a doubt, there’s no doubt about that.”

Nickal may well be a natural striker, we don’t doubt that. But he has not been striking since literally the age of five and was not the best amateur striker in the entire country when he was in college. No, he has been doing those things in wrestling, which remains his strongest suit. But for some curious reason, he just doesn’t seem to want to use his biggest strength in a fight.

Which does not seem like the recipe to become a champion or the pound-for-pound #1 fighter in the UFC. But who knows, maybe Nickal turns out to be the second coming of prime Anderson Silva. We’ll have to wait until this weekend to find out. What do you think about Bo Nickal’s comments about the significance of the Reinier de Ridder clash?