Bo Nickal suffered the primary lack of his profession this previous weekend in his battle in opposition to Reinier de Ridder, and his head coach is aware of precisely what went incorrect.
The three-time NCAA Division I Nationwide Champion wrestler from Penn State has been one of the hyped prospects to come back to MMA in fairly a while, and he began his profession with an ideal 7-0 report together with six straight finishes. Sadly, Nickal’s undefeated run got here to a staggering halt at UFC Des Moines after de Ridder began sturdy in opposition to him on the bottom within the first spherical after which blasted him with a fight-ending physique shot within the second spherical.
American High Workforce coach Mike Brown, who has been in Nickal’s nook because the starting of his profession, addressed the loss whereas admitting there have been a number of elements that went into that surprising defeat.
“Was a tricky weekend however possibly one {that a} was wanted,” Brown wrote on Instagram. “Issues have been shifting quick for Bo Nickal and up to now he was been capable of make issues occur and safe six finishes and 7 victories with the restricted expertise that he has. Bo has all of the attributes that you really want in case your aim is to grow to be a world champion in blended martial arts. He has athleticism, a powerful assured thoughts set, an important household help system, and he began fight sports activities (particularly wrestling) at a really younger age. These are all of the bins that you simply need to examine when creating an elite MMA fighter.
“However the one factor Bo doesn’t have is stay preventing cage time and for this there is no such thing as a substitution. MMA battle expertise is essential and precise time within the cage is extraordinarily essential. As a crew we had our issues about shifting so quick and we notice the hazards of preventing such excessive degree opponents so early, however Bo is a novel athlete and the UFC has him on a quick monitor.”
Nickal was truly a large favourite going into the battle regardless of taking up an opponent with greater than thrice as a lot expertise with a formidable resume after de Ridder was truly a two-division champion in ONE Championship.
From the beginning of the battle, de Ridder by no means backed down from pursuing Nickal throughout the cage and he repeatedly battered him with strikes, particularly to the physique, every time they’d lock up within the clinch.
The repeated physique blows additionally paid off big when de Ridder noticed a gap to unleash an enormous knee strike up the center that blasted Nickal and despatched him crashing to the canvas to finish the battle.
“This previous weekend Bo’s lack of expertise confirmed, his wrestling and athleticism wasn’t sufficient to beat what was in entrance of him,” Brown mentioned. “Reinier de Ridder now 20-2 was a multi-time two division world champion in One FC a really respected group. Props to him for coming with a powerful sport plan and executing what was wanted.”
After all, the second Nickal suffered a loss, he was instantly bombarded with criticism that the 29-year-old middleweight in some way obtained “fraud checked” after falling in such lopsided style.
Brown was fast to counter that argument with a refined reminder that Nickal continues to be very younger in his MMA profession and this setback can solely make him higher shifting ahead.
Dropping is rarely best however Brown is aware of from his years spent within the cage and now as one of many high coaches within the sport that falling down on this sport solely provides someone like Nickal an opportunity to show he can stand up once more.
“That is the battle sport and it’s cliche however that is the place we be taught,” Brown mentioned. “That is the place we make modifications and the place we make the largest positive factors. I’m assured that that is going to gasoline Bo and it’ll assist him direct his focus to a different degree.
“To all of the critics canine piling, bear in mind Bo is nothing greater than a person in an area making an attempt to help himself and his household.”
