“Bo Nickal might be the most successful athlete we’ve ever had on the Contender Series. Three-time NCAA champion, never lost a match in college… this kid is special.” Dana White’s 2022 statement signals how highly the UFC CEO was banking on Bo Nickal. Right from giving him the UFC 285 PPV main card debut despite having just one pro fight, to giving him the UFC 300 main card opener spot over former champions Cody Garbrandt, Jiri Prochazka, and Aljamain Sterling in 2024, the hype was unreal. But now, just a year removed, Nickal’s career has seen a steep downfall.

It all started at UFC 300 in Las Vegas. Nickal, then 5-0, faced Cody Brundage in what was a historic main card. The result? The southpaw secured a rear-naked choke at 3:38 of round 2 and won the fight. Despite the win, though, the cracks in his legacy started to show. For one, it was the first fight for Nickal, which went into round 2. For another, Brundage exposed Nickal’s vulnerabilities.

“My frustrations with the performance were really just the fact that I don’t think I did my best that evening,”  said Nickal after the fight. That was the start of a promising career showing signs of degradation. Now, one year hence, Nickal is slated to face Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322 on November 15th, and the fight has been downgraded to prelims from the original main card spot. It’s a stark contrast to the three-time NCAA Wrestling champ’s legacy, who earlier had dismissed even the thought of fighting in the prelims.

“Do I look like – am I a prelim guy? I’m not a prelim guy. If I have to fight on the prelims, I’ll just retire, I’m done,” said Nickal in his peak hype years. But events transpired, and Nickal had a weak showing against Reinier de Ridder in May, losing via TKO. De Ridder came in hard on Nickal, dominating, grappling early, and dropping brutal knees to the body, highlighting Nickal’s inexperience. Nickal’s 7-0 win streak was now broken, and fans and the media came down heavily on him.

“He became a three-time NCAA champion, if I’m not mistaken. Well, this is not wrestling. This is not wrestling, my good man, and he found that out the hard way. I think he thought he was going to walk through Reinier, and I thought Reinier had a beautiful game plan. He’s fought nobodies in terms of being able to talk and then going and saying ‘the championship fight was s–t; these guys can’t wrestle; that’s not impressive, that win,” said then-UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at the time. The downfall officially then started.

Earlier in the UFC 322 event, Nickal’s fight was on the main card. He even shared the excitement on X and touted his “100s of thousands of grassroots American wrestling fans” to watch the fight. However, in the end, Dana White finally went with changing the lineup, and Beneil Dariush vs Benoit Saint-Denis finally took Nickal’s spot on the main card.

That said, the fight is still moved to ‘prelims’ and not the ‘early prelims’ where inexperienced debutants start, which may give some consolation to Nickal. But given his stance on prelims earlier, it sure will bring some major dejected emotions. That said, the 29-year-old from Rifle, Colorado, still has a lot of gas in his tank to make a comeback.

Bo Nickal remains grounded amid UFC 322 setback

The UFC 322 showing will be a major test for Nickal to chart his way back to the main card. A dominant win over Vieira can trigger just that. Vieira is also 36, and thus Nickal can exploit his recent decision-heavy record, forcing quick submission or TKO. It surely won’t put Nickal on the pedestal on which he was earlier. But it would be a start. Nickal, too, had reflected on negligence and arrogance on his part. And now, he embraces even the prelims as he did the main card.

“I remember the specific instance when you asked me if I was going to be on the ‘Prelims,’ and I scoffed at it. I was definitely arrogant, but there was a little bit of truth to that in my position, but at the same time, it was arrogant. So, now I don’t really care where I fight. If UFC wants to put me first on the fight card, then I’m happy to do it. It’s definitely part of this humbling…. I don’t feel like I should get anything I don’t deserve, and I want to earn everything I have,” said Nickal ahead of the fight.

It’s not how you fall, but how you rise that defines you. Bo Nickal is doing just that. He’s more humble now, grounded and improving his MMA mechanics, away from his wrestling moves. That surely will help. Even De Ridder highlighted Nickal’s quality post-loss and touted him to make a comeback. “In three years, he’s going to be a f—-g killer. He’s going to run through everybody,” said Ridder. That’s exactly how Bo Nickal is going by with his days, keeping his head down, working hard, and hoping for the best.