Luke Rockhold isn’t buying into the hype behind wrestling standout Bo Nickal.
One of the biggest prospects in MMA today is former NCAA wrestling national champion Bo Nickal. Nickal is new to MMA but with his extensive wrestling background, the expectations are very high. Many thought he would have signed with the UFC already but after his appearance on The Contender Series, he was left without a contract.
Nickal won with Contender Series fight against Zachary Borrego by first-round submission but was not given a UFC contract by Dana White. White explained that his lack of experience in MMA was the reason for the delay in signing him. He wants to see him back again and with another win would be invited to join the organization.
Nickal is grateful for the opportunity to potentially join the UFC in the near future and has been vocal about his skills. He believes he has better wrestling skills than most of the current UFC middleweights and he stated as so. Unsurprisingly, this was not accepted well by the upper epsilon of the division
Luke Rockhold spoke recently with The Schmo and discussed the remarks from the young up-and-comer.
“Bo Nickal would get abused. Absolutely abused. It’s different, you know, it’s different. Wrestling is — you can go so far until you run into the likes of me. But Bo’s an incredible character. The kid looks good,” Rockhold said. “But he fought a f-cking bum. So, who the f-ck knows. But I know his accolades and I know his team. I wrestled with a lot of guys from that cycle of learning, and we’ll see.”
Nickal could be back on the Contender Series in a matter of weeks and in the UFC within the same timeframe if the timing works out. He will have a long way to go to be on the level of Rockhold, but these days fighters with star power and skills seem to be getting a quick push through the rankings, Nickal could be next.
Do you think Bo Nickal has what it takes to compete with the top ten in the UFC middleweight division?