Bo Nickal is no longer undefeated! Reinier de Ridder put on an absolute show in their UFC Des Moines co-main event clash, breaking the three-time NCAA D1 wrestling champion in the second round courtesy of a hard knee to the liver. But Nickal wasn’t looking too good before that either. While their first round saw a fair bit of grappling, the Dutch BJJ black belt was able to dominate the proceedings there and managed to outstrike the American by quite a margin.

The second round was even worse for Nickal, who clearly looked out of his depth as de Ridder’s dirty boxing in the clinch and relentless pressure was just too overwhelming for the Penn State alum. And former UFC vet and keen-eyed analyst, Josh Thomson, echoing the MMA world’s sentiment, thinks that de Ridder finally ‘fraud checked’ the hyped prospect.

“Look, I thought RDR fought a great fight. As the millennials will call it, I think Bo Nickal got fraud-checked tonight, and I’m not going to take a dig at him. I’m simply saying that it comes down to he was okay with this fight, he said he wanted this fight. But this is when I think you learn a lot from your experience inside the cage. What you’re doing in the gym it doesn’t always translate to inside the cage.”

The UFC veteran added, And tonight it just showed… But you’ve never felt this guy [RDR], you don’t know how good he is, you don’t know how tall he is. Like, you saw him get, you know, hit with some shots by Meerschart, you thought you could hit him. Well, it’s not the same,” Thomson told co-host, ‘Big’ John McCarthy, on their ‘Weighing In’ podcast.

“His game plan was, right from the jump, John, ‘Let me walk you right down, put tons of pressure on you, make you uncomfortable. And even if you do take me down, I’m comfortable here, I’m good. And so that’s what I need to do.’ And then you saw Bo take a huge breath when they came out of a couple scrambles in the clinch, he circled off it was like he just backed up to the fence and was like “Man, this is what a real fight is,” he added.

Indeed, as we have mentioned, Nickal looked positively surprised and overwhelmed at just how intense the Dutchman was. Moreover, de Ridder was noticeably bigger and thicker than the American and looked much more dangerous! Both on the feet and on the ground than his American counterpart who was fighting his first-ranked opponent.

Nickal is undoubtedly Dana White’s prized possession. This was pretty evident as the Penn State Alum was always featured on the main card of the UFC PPV cards he competed on (UFC 285, UFC 290, UFC 300, and UFC 309), and mind you, these were his first four bouts inside the Octagon.

Moreover, he was already coming into this bout with a lot of doubters, as his UFC 309 victory against Paul Craig was deemed sloppy and unimpressive. And now a setback against the former 2-division ONE FC champ has only added to his woes. Unless both of these fights were an aberration, it shows that Nickal is not yet ready for even taking on elite guys, let alone fighting at the championship level at the moment.

The American would undoubtedly be pretty disappointed with the result. But one of the greatest UFC champions ever had some very helpful advice for him after the fight, which Nickal would do well to pay heed to.

Henry Cejudo consoles Bo Nickal and wants him to follow ‘Triple C’s example

As far as pure wrestling skills are concerned, Bo Nickal may be among the three best in the promotion, along with Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev. This is why Nickal’s loss to the BJJ maestro, de Ridder, is being seen not just as a loss for the American personally, but also the wrestling world in general. There was a time in the earstwhile days of the UFC where wrestlers like Mark Coleman and Randy Couture dominated strikers and BJJ guys without much trouble.

But with one of the greatest amateur wrestlers in American history being dominated by de Ridder’s BJJ and striking, the days of wrestlers dominating just off their wrestling skills are over. At least that is what wrestling Olympic gold medallist and former concurrent UFC double champ, Henry Cejudo, thinks.

“The wrestling world has taken a hit today. Keep your head up @NoBickal. This is not the end. I got finished by Demetrious Johnson with a similar body shot, and I went on to avenge that loss and become champion. You are capable of doing the same. Get back on your horse, brother #UFCDesMoines,” ‘Triple C’ wrote on X after the fight.

Indeed, like Nickal, Cejudo was undefeated when he fought then-UFC flyweight champ and GOAT contender Demetrious Johnson at UFC 197 in 2016, which ended in a first-round knockout loss for ‘Triple C’. But after the fight, the Olympian worked hard on his striking and adopted a Karate-style long stance.

In their rematch two years later, Cejudo, because of all the work he had put into his striking, was able to beat ‘DJ’ via a close split decision, proving the critics and doubters who had written him off wrong. And Nickal is in a remarkably similar position as Cejudo was after the first Johnson fight. This is why it is too early to write off Nickal at the moment. What do you think about Josh Thomson’s take on Bo Nickal’s loss?