When Dana White introduced Bo Nickal to the UFC, he was hailed as an unstoppable force—tearing through opponents with back-to-back submissions. His meteoric rise seemed almost too perfect. But in the fight game, no one is untouchable. At UFC Des Moines, the three-time NCAA champion met his match in Reinier de Ridder. In just his eighth UFC appearance, Nickal’s aura of invincibility was shattered as de Ridder secured a stunning second-round knockout.

In the aftermath, Nickal faced waves of criticism for his seemingly one-dimensional style. Yet amid the noise, one fellow wrestler from Penn State stepped up to offer rare support. What’s the story behind this unexpected alliance?

During a candid conversation with a Penn State wrestler, Mitchell Mesenbrink, an inspiring backstory unfolded. Mesenbrink revealed that he had once lost his passion for competing and was on the verge of walking away from wrestling altogether. “I was about to quit. Competing made me so nervous—I didn’t like it. I was so nervous I would puke,” said Mesenbrink.

When Nickal asked how he handled the overwhelming pressure, Mesenbrink credited his parents for keeping him grounded, “Having my mom and my dad being like a team helping me—it was more so like, you don’t have to be great at wrestling. I don’t care what you’re good at; you just have to strive for excellence in something.”

He further added, “We played piano, soccer, we did judo, I did chess club—you gotta strive for something. You’re not gonna sit inside and play video games. My dad had been in it so long, and we still laugh about it—like little phrases we heard dads say. Those cooks—sorry, but they are cooks. They’re so interesting.”

Those words hit home for Bo Nickal, who is currently dealing with the first defeat of his MMA career. Shaken but not broken, Nickal has vowed to stay positive and grow from the setback. And he’s not alone. UFC lightweight contender Mateusz Gamrot also spoke out in support of the middleweight prospect.

“I’m not happy that Bo Nickal lost, but for sure, this will make him stronger,” Gamrot told Ariel Helwani. “He’s a smart man, he’s a sportsman, so there’s a lesson in this for him. In his next fight, he’ll be a better fighter for sure.” And Gamrot isn’t the only one offering wisdom and encouragement to a fallen phenom still finding his footing in the Octagon.

Reinier De Ridder has a word of advice for Bo Nickal

Reinier De Ridder shattered the invincible aura surrounding Bo Nickal when he defeated him in just two rounds, shocking the entire MMA community. Not only was a knockout unexpected—no one even anticipated Nickal losing. To lose in such a manner has significantly damaged his stock. Talking to the UFC Unfiltered podcast, De Ridder had a conversation about how Nickal could handle the loss, “Look, anything that happens if it’s if it’s um a win or a loss. If it’s a spectacular win or spectacular loss or whatever. Only you have the option to make a good either good or a bad thing. Um, especially in those if it’s a devastating loss like Bo’s suffered, the only guy who can make it a good or a bad thing is him.

He further added, “If it motivates him, if it gets him back in the gym, if it gets him to maybe let go of some things he did in the past, he did wrong, focus even more on fighting, really grind and get better. In a couple of years, he’ll look back and he’ll say, ‘That was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Reinier De Ridder believes that losses are a part of a fighter’s life and only make them stronger. Take Islam Makhachev, for example — the soon-to-be former lightweight champion was once knocked out by Adriano Martins, but since then, he has remained undefeated, winning the lightweight belt and now aiming for the welterweight title. Losses are necessary to understand where you stand in the game. Regardless, what are your thoughts on Nickal’s career? That’s your opinion in the comments below.