Hype is a gift in the UFC until it turns into a deadline. Prospects aren’t just expected to win but to leave a mark quickly with some highlight reels, dominant finishes, and a title-ready aura before their résumés catch up. That’s the unusual pressure Bo Nickal has been under since the moment he signed.

And when that pressure culminated in a terrible lesson, his team’s response was simple: Go for brutal honesty. Bo Nickal‘s first major setback against Reinier de Ridder revealed more than just a stylistic challenge; it also reignited the debate over whether he was being pushed too hard, too early. This week, his head coach said it aloud, and the 29-year-old didn’t flinch.

Bo Nickal agrees with Mike Brown’s admission about Bo Nickal’s rise

Speaking with Damon Martin, Mike Brown, head coach of the American Top Team, confessed to what many had thought even before the loss: the climb to the main card was too rushed for the 29-year-old. Brown said, “He was moving a bit too fast. We all knew it. He knew it. I knew it. We all knew it. Management knew it.”

The ugly truth, according to the MMA coach, is that fast tracks come with higher pay—and even bigger expectations: “He also was getting paid very well, right? So you’re not going to get the big bucks if you’re fighting guys in the prelims. If you’re getting the big paychecks… then they’re going to push you and not give you a layup.”

His point was simple: when you’re presented as someone special, matchmaking becomes less gentle towards your resume, something Mike Brown wasn’t too thrilled about. In fact, he was not pleased with the de Ridder booking in the first place. But what is Bo Nickal’s take on it? Well, in a recent tweet on X, he just repeated the message publicly and accepted responsibility.

“Very true, and I appreciate everyone that’s helped me along the way, including Coach Mike and my management. We are all in this together, and we will keep improving daily. I am grateful for everyone around me and all of my support,” he wrote.

And that’s what makes this moment important. Not the loss itself, but the humility that followed.

In a sport where prospects frequently crumble the first time the myth breaks, Bo Nickal’s mindset hinted at something else: the fast track may have hurt—but it may also have forced growth that he couldn’t have found in safer matches. And if he continues with the same humility, chances are that he might become the first-ever MMA fighter to dethrone Khamzat Chimaev.

Joe Rogan makes a massive claim about Nickal’s UFC future

The thought of Bo Nickal someday challenging Khamzat Chimaev is no longer just in the minds of fans. With Chimaev’s dominance making most matchups appear futile on paper, the division has begun to seek the perfect kind of athlete—someone who can wrestle with him without drowning.

That’s how Joe Rogan described it on his podcast. The UFC commentator didn’t talk about power or toughness. He addressed gaps.

“His wrestling is obscene,” he stated, describing the difference between ‘Borz’ and the rest, like jumping across the Grand Canyon.

The JRE host believes you don’t close that gap with camps and confidence.

“You would have to get a time machine, go back to the time when you were 6 years old, and start wrestling in Dagestan… Only an elite wrestler who can also strike is going to be able to f— with that guy,” Rogan said. Then Rogan made the surprising leap. “I can’t see anyone f— with that guy, (only) Bo Nickal.”

However, it came with a condition: Nickal needed to “grow as a fighter.” Joe Rogan wasn’t claiming Nickal was prepared. He was stating Nickal is unusual. And in a division dominated by one suffocating wrestler, rarity may be the only true avenue to an upset.