Bo Nickal Advised to Go ‘Old School’ or Take a Page Out of Islam Makhachev & Khamzat Chimaev’s Playbook to Beat Ranked UFC Rival

Usually, the best course of action for you as a fighter is to fight to your strengths. Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t care about how good you were at Jiu-Jitsu or striking, he was going to take you down and maul you there because that was his strength. Same with Khamzat Chimaev and Islam Makhachev, although the latter has developed some great striking skills that he isn’t afraid of showing off.

But strangely, UFC undefeated middleweight phenom, Bo Nickal, isn’t really interested in fighting according to his strength. Nickal was a Caitlin Clarke/ Tim Tebow-famed college wrestler, who won not one, not two, but three NCAA D-1 wrestling championships for Penn State in his collegiate career.

So his recent comments about his striking (which we will discuss in-depth later) ahead of his much-awaited May 3 UFC Des Moines clash against BJJ maestro and former two-division ONE Championship champion, Reinier de Ridder, have alarmed many. You may remember Nickal chose to strike with Paul Craig at their UFC 309 clash, which got him roundly booed by the fans. Among those alarmed are his biggest cheerleaders, like former UFC heavyweight and podcaster Brendan Schaub, who wants the middleweight phenom to follow Makhachev and Chimaev’s example.

“RDR-Bo Nickal is such a perfect step-up in competition for Bo Nickal. And you guys know how high I am on Bo Nickal. I think he’s our last hope as an American to become world champion. If he doesn’t use his wrestling, I’m going to bust, I’m going to freak the f–k out if he’s terrified of RDR’s jiu-jitsu, and we get 15 minutes of their bulls**t striking ‘cuz RDR ain’t going to blow you away either on the feet, you’re gonna get a s—y amateur kickboxing match if these f—ers don’t decide to do some grappling” Schaub declared.

“I told you what I want from Bo Nickal, his team’s like “Shut your mouth Schaub’. I hear you, hear me out. He’s such an elite wrestler, he needs to take a page out of Makhachev, out of freaking Khamzat, out of freaking—you name these elite wrestlers—Merab. Go old school with it, Khabib, dude f—ing Brock Lesnar. Go old school with it, dude. Be so dominant in wrestling you don’t give a s–t about their black belt. Wrestling usually beats jiu-jitsu nine times out of ten, if you just have some defense. If we get a shitty striking match, I’m going to lose my s–t,” ‘Bapa’ added.

Madison Square Garden NEW YORK CITY, NY -NOVEMBER 16:Bo Nickal and Paul Craig met in the octagon for a 3-round bout for UFC309 – Jones vs Miocic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, NY Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages Louis Grasse / SPP PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxBRAxMEX Copyright: xLouisxGrassex/xSPPx spp-en-LoGr-lrg2411164260581_UFCVegas309

Indeed, this is the exact same advice another one of Nickal’s biggest cheerleaders, Chael Sonnen, had for Penn State alum after his UFC 309 performance. But it seems the undefeated middleweight is in no mood to heed the advice of even his biggest supporters.

Bo Nickal claims he is a “natural striker” ahead of Reinier de Ridder clash

“There’s a chance, you know. There’s a chance I shouldn’t take down [in] this fight, but I don’t know, I’m kind of turning into a striker, so we’ll see,” Nickal said in a video on his YouTube channel. “Yeah, I’m working on it, you know. It’s, you know, developing, getting better. I think I’m a natural striker, so yeah. The overhand’s there, without a doubt, there’s no doubt about that.”

As you can see, Nickal is indicating that he might choose to strike with Reinier de Ridder in their upcoming clash. De Ridder is a very high-level BJJ practitioner. And many suspect that the reason Bo Nickal didn’t even attempt one takedown on Paul Craig at UFC 309 was precisely because he might have been afraid of being submitted by ‘Bearjew’s high-level BJJ. If anything the former ONE champion is even more dangerous than Craig in that respect.

The Dutchman, after all, is younger, more athletic, and from an eye test, seems stronger than Craig. So it shouldn’t be surprising for anyone if the guy who didn’t take the fight to the ground against Craig wants to keep the de Ridder fight an exclusively stand-up affair. This would be a shame, akin to Steph Curry refusing to fire even one three-pointer and trying to dunk the ball on every play.

What do you think about Schaub’s speculation of the kind of fight that will play out between Bo Nickal and Reinier de Ridder? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.

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