Bo Nickal, who had been riding high with an unblemished 7-0 UFC record, saw his undefeated streak come to an end at UFC Des Moines in a tough loss to Reinier de Ridder. As is often the case in the world of MMA, fans were quick to turn on the former wrestling standout, much like they did with Ronda Rousey and Darren Till after their initial setbacks. Despite the backlash, the Penn State Alum remained composed and shared a heartfelt message with fans on Instagram following the fight: “Grateful for the highs and lows. I’ll be back.”

But let’s be real! Everyone is affected by the lows, and as Ariel Helwani put it, getting accused of being ‘fraud checked’ does not feel pleasant. So, how does the former 3-time NCAA champion feel about that? While speaking to the MMA journo on ‘The Ariel Helwani Show’, he admitted, “Everything is so dramatized and you know people in today’s day and age they want…There’s never a middle ground, it’s either like you’re amazing or you’re the worst. I just think that, just really what it is, and it is like people want the drama and they want the like, the emotion to be evoked, and so for me it’s really irrelevant, right, I am on the path that I am on.”

Nickal further added, “I believe that one loss doesn’t define me. Even if I lose again, I could lose 2, 3, 4, 5 times… I’m not gonna quit. I’m just gonna keep getting better and keep improving… I just want to keep getting better at fighting.”

Since he already is a 3-time NCAA champ and a decorated collegiate wrestler, he was criticised badly after his loss. Fans said things like, “I can’t believe this happened. MANHANDLED Bo Nickal in the grappling and then broke him through the clinch. RDR is awkwardly special.”

“Fraud checked: Bo Nickal,” the controversial Dillon Danis reacted. However, surprisingly, his opponent De Ridder came to the rescue, and while speaking on MMA Fighting on SBN, he pointed out that Nickal was not ‘fraud-checked’. The former ONE FC double champ said, “It’s always like that, there is always a lot of hype around him. To be honest, if he is smart, he will put his phone in another room for the next two days.” How else did he motivate his opponent against haters? Let’s see!

Reinier De Ridder relates to Bo Nickal after UFC Des Moines

Apart from telling his opponent to turn a deaf ear to critics, the Dutch middleweight is pretty sure that the star wrestler would bounce back again. “It’s what it is. This is the climate we live in. This is the way our community kind of works nowadays. If you have a lot of confidence and then it doesn’t work out, people kind of find that funny,” Reinier de Ridder explained while talking on Submission Radio. “They try to put their own ego on top of that and tell everybody, ‘I told him so,’ ‘I never thought Bo was any good.’ But he’s an awesome fighter, man. I am 100 percent sure he’ll be back.”

The Dutchman related to the Colorado native and said that his own loss in ONE FC helped him evolve. “He has the opportunity, like I had when I lost my fights. I lost two fights in ONE [Championship], in devastating fashion as well. And something I really learnt at that time is that you can make it a bad or a good thing. You’re the only one who can,” Reinier De Ridder said.

For the unversed, de Ridder suffered his most devastating loss to Anatoly Malykhin, where the Russian became a three-weight world champ. But these losses did not deter the Dutchman, and he has now won 3 back to back fights in the UFC. Maybe this advice will help Nickal? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.