Bo Nickal might not be in the favor of the MMA community right now owing to his last performance, but there’s no denying his skills as a top-tier athlete. After all, he is undefeated with two knockout and four submission wins in his career. His dominance, of course, comes from his pedigree as a Division-1 NCAA wrestler. “Wrestling’s in my blood,” Nickal told MMA Fighting. “My grandfather wrestled in college. My father wrestled his whole life and coached his whole life. For me, I take a lot of pride in being a wrestler.”

“Coming in now, I know that undoubtedly in my opinion, I’m the best wrestler that’s come into the sport of MMA skill-wise, and I think my skills translate well,” Nickal continued. Of course, there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and depending on where you stand with Nickal, you might see him as one or the other. And he’s bound for a stylistic dream matchup for grapplers at UFC Des Moines, against Reinier de Ridder—a highly decorated BJJ black belt in MMA.

A blue belt in BJJ under Marcel Ferreira, Nickal has admitted in several interviews that he had went for a BJJ class “to mess around”, but ended up liking the martial arts style. Nickal fought Gordon Ryan—the greatest no-gi BJJ practitioners—back in 2019 after apparently only training “twice” in BJJ and went on to lose via a submission. Ahead of his bout, let’s take a closer look at journey through high-level wrestling.

What is Bo Nickal’s Fighting Style?

His fighting style is rooted in wrestling. It was later complemented by developing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), and he is also working on his striking skills. Nickal is widely recognized as the most accomplished wrestler to transition into MMA. The Penn-State alum is a 3-time NCAA Division-1 National Champion , with the prestigious 2019 Dan Hodge Trophy, which is only awarded to the most successful college wrestlers. He has dipped his toes in freestyle wrestling and is a graduate of folkstyle wrestling.

A extremely gifted athlete, the Colorado native moved to Wyoming and started wrestling at 6 years old. He was so good at it that he made it to the varsity high school team while in eighth grade and was awarded second place at the New Mexico state tournament.

It’s not a surprise that he is a star wrestler because he comes from a legacy of athletes. His parents were both college athletes, with his father, Jason Nickal, coaching him when he was young, and Sandy Nickal, his mother, was an amateur boxer and also played basketball. However, he also proved that he is not just good at wrestling but also at other fighting styles. Nickal has impressive skills when it comes to fighting on the feet, as was seen by the electrifying knockout of Val Woodburn at UFC 290. As he is approaching his fight against Reinier de Ridder, he refers back to his recent win against Paul Craig.

“I think my last fight was massive for my experience and performance, overall; anytime I can get extra cage time is perfect for me since my career is new,” Nickal said to UFC. “It gave me a lot of feedback on what to focus on and improve. I am looking to show all the improvements this weekend.” He further added that he is practicing his striking abilities since De Ridder is good at BJJ. He said, “With my last fight, we saw a lot of striking, which I am getting more and more confident with every day.” Since the duo are grappling aficionados, they might want to keep the fight on their feet. But before the latest fight, let’s recap Nickal’s State Title wins!

How Many State Titles did the UFC star win?

The Penn State alumnus has has won three state titles during his high school career at Allen High School in Texas. His journey to become a state-level wrestling champ began with his school varsity team, where he had an impressive high school resume (183-7, with 131 pins). Then he went on to Pennsylvania State University, and the rest was history. He won the Big Ten Championship in the 174 category in his freshman year, however, he lost the NCAA tournament finals.

This did not deter the Colorado native from moving up to 184 pounds, and here he was, undefeated, finally winning his first NCAA tournament. Nickal then went on to win the NCAA championship. He also achieved the Big Ten Conference in his junior year and was awarded the NCAA MVP for his impressive record.

Finally, in his senior year, he won his third NCAA Championship, and this made him successful enough to earn the eminent Dan Hodge trophy. Then he decided to compete internationally as a freestyle wrestler and won the US Open in 2019. Now, he is undefeated with a record of 7-0, is on his way to perhaps the biggest test of his career. The 29-year-old is about to clash against Reinier de Ridder at UFC on ESPN 67, so let’s see how he shows his grappling and striking prowess in this one!