Bo Nickal got wrecked

[BloodRound]

My brain is truly dead this morning because I cannot think of anything else to say beyond it's funny that Bo lost and Mineo spent an entire day crashing out on Iowa fans for the sake of someone who probably wouldn't look his way in public.

[Truzzcat]

16 hours ago, BruceyB said:

I haven't seen or heard a word from Aaron Pico since he started fighting in Bellator. On the other hand, I can't get away from seeing Bo Nickal content. I am not going to root for an arrogant prick just because he comes from the same sport I like. He's a clown and maybe he'll be more tolerable now that he can't pretend like he'd beat anyone in the world if given the chance. The UFC has coddled him and selected opponents to help him build his reputation and anticipation of his future match-ups, and he got booed in his last fight for being so boring, and then just got embarrassed in this fight. 

Aaron actually recently signed with the UFC other than dislocating his shoulder against Jeremey Kennedy he has been on a tear, and I think he has a good shot of winning a belt. He is truly a complete fighter just may have chin issues and sort of got throw to the wolves when he was too green. My gauge on Bo which could probably be completely off base is that he is not pushing himself in training. He spends most of his time in happy valley likely training with the same guys that probably are not as good as him and then does the last few weeks of camp in florida which at that point I doubt they are giving him guys that can beat him so that his confidence is not shot. I know he trains with Johnny eblen which is great but thats a style that is probably fairly comfortable for him and who's to say how hard Eblen goes. As for RDR he held two belts in one for a reason he is very good and had a great gameplan he was constantly moving forward and throwing knees up the middle which probably made Bo apprehensive about lowering his level. The two most concerning things were seeing Bo get stuck underneath and have terrible body language to getting hit. You can be as good as you want but if you can't take getting hit you are not going to make it very far.

Edited 11 hours ago by Truzzcat

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

17 hours ago, Rassling2 said:

Bo will be back - hopefully at a more comfortable weight. I like Henry Cejudos approach

What would be a better weight for him? 170?  Because he is one of the smaller 185s in UFC. (And he did not lose 30+ lbs this week)

(Based on eye test, height, and reach)

Edited 11 hours ago by Interviewed_at_Weehawken

[1032004]

18 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

What would be a better weight for him? 170?  Because he is one of the smaller 185s in UFC. (And he did not lose 30+ lbs this week)

(Based on eye test, height, and reach)

He wrestled 197 6 years ago, you really think he’s one of the smaller 185’s?

[Caveira]

24 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

He wrestled 197 6 years ago, you really think he’s one of the smaller 185’s?

No one believes he cut what he said he cut.  That looked staged and half the internet was saying that even pre fight. 
 

With that said he does look to be the smaller fighter all of his last 3 fights and this one pretty noticeably.   
 

I don’t think he can make 170 though.  That seems crazy.  

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

33 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

He wrestled 197 6 years ago, you really think he’s one of the smaller 185’s?

Have you seen his last few fights?  He is a bit on the short size and doesn't have the reach compared to many top 185.  meanwhile the top guys also seem to also be more muscular in addition to the height and reach.

When he was trying to wrestle 97 kg in Europe back in '21, he only weighed something like 208.  That is with him trying to gain.

Edited 10 hours ago by Interviewed_at_Weehawken

[Winners Circle]

This thread could go on the MMA board no?

[1032004]

8 hours ago, VakAttack said:

The unmitigated gall to demand that Iowa fans have to root for Bo Nickal in the UFC, lol.  I don't personally care, I only check in on MMA these days when a high level wrestler is going, but Bo spends a lot of time, up into the most recent wrestling season, talking sh!t about the Iowa program.  I wasn't rooting for him to lose (or win for that matter) but if a bunch of Iowa fans rooted against him...well he earned that.  And apparently he's running a "I'm better than you" heel persona, which has (from my reading of the Tweets last night) not endeared him to the pure MMA fans, either.

Also the other guy did wear an Iowa shirt, that probably caused some of their fans to also root “for” him and not just against Bo

[1032004]

11 minutes ago, Caveira said:

No one believes he cut what he said he cut.  That looked staged and half the internet was saying that even pre fight. 
 

With that said he does look to be the smaller fighter all of his last 3 fights and this one pretty noticeably.   
 

I don’t think he can make 170 though.  That seems crazy.  

Maybe the amount he’s saying he cut was staged.   It’d just be surprising to me if he’s considered “small” for 185. But maybe the other guys are just cutting a ton.

[scourge165]

4 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

This thread could go on the MMA board no?

Why? People are talking about it here. He's a former Wrestler. I haven't glanced at the MMA board in a....long time.

 

[Caveira]

14 minutes ago, Winners Circle said:

This thread could go on the MMA board no?

There is one.  It’s not getting a ton of traffic.  

[Winners Circle]

Just now, Caveira said:

There is one.  It’s not getting a ton of traffic.  

I figured. Which is why the OP put it on this board. 

 

12 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

Why? People are talking about it here. He's a former Wrestler. I haven't glanced at the MMA board in a....long time.

 

Is he a former wrestler or a COLLEGE WRESTLER? 

[TexRef]

18 hours ago, Wildcat92 said:

its because he's an arrogant, overhyped and overrated fighter.  Nothing to do with where he went to college

It's more likely that they are just rude. Iowans have never been accused of being nice people. I can't blame them, they live in Iowa. 

[Caveira]

Just now, Winners Circle said:

I figured. Which is why the OP put it on this board. 

 

Is he a former wrestler or a COLLEGE WRESTLER? 

Ok. 

[charmon55]

21 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Maybe the amount he’s saying he cut was staged.   It’d just be surprising to me if he’s considered “small” for 185. But maybe the other guys are just cutting a ton.

Yeah UFC fighters cut a ton of weight since they weigh in a day before the fight. Gives them plenty of time to hydrate and get their energy back. I would estimate that most 185lb fighters cut around 25lbs the week of the fight. 185lb champ, Dricus Du Plessis, walks around 230lbs outside of training camp. 

[Boring]

19 hours ago, okokzach said:

Yeah, exactly. I promise Zahid would be happy to let him test that claim any time he wants. 

Zahid would tech Bo at this point. 

[Boring]

19 hours ago, okokzach said:

No.

He could be said to be one of the best folkstyle wrestlers in US history though. 

[Boring]

19 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Interesting to see Iowa wrestling fans openly celebrating a wrestler losing. Just because he went to Penn State. 

I'm not an Iowa fan and I'm happy Bo lost. I've been watching his youtube channel a lot lately and Bo is insufferable. He's gotten a tremendously inflated ego. In the latest video I watched he was saying he doesn't plan on using wrestling much in the future because he thinks he's a better striker. Ugh. 

Yeah, Bo needs to get beaten up a few more times. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Boring

[Boring]

18 hours ago, BruceyB said:

I haven't seen or heard a word from Aaron Pico since he started fighting in Bellator. On the other hand, I can't get away from seeing Bo Nickal content. I am not going to root for an arrogant prick just because he comes from the same sport I like. He's a clown and maybe he'll be more tolerable now that he can't pretend like he'd beat anyone in the world if given the chance. The UFC has coddled him and selected opponents to help him build his reputation and anticipation of his future match-ups, and he got booed in his last fight for being so boring, and then just got embarrassed in this fight. 

Getting beaten up tends to teach humility. Pico learned it. Now Bo is learning it.

[pokemonster]

1 hour ago, 1032004 said:

He wrestled 197 6 years ago, you really think he’s one of the smaller 185’s?

From the eye test, Bo absolutely looks significantly smaller than his comp in MMA. They are known to do ridiculous weight cuts (take a look at Alex Pereira for example, somehow he made 170 and he looks massive for 185) which is probably part of it. With that being said, Bo has never looked very intimidating from a size or muscle point of view. He's always looked smaller and less ripped than his competition and it's never held him back (him vs Gabe Dean for example). Very unintimidating physically. 

[pokemonster]

1 hour ago, Truzzcat said:

The two most concerning things were seeing Bo get stuck underneath and have terrible body language to getting hit. You can be as good as you want but if you can't take getting hit you are not going to make it very far.

That's what I noticed as well. His wrestling isn't gonna be effective if, once he gets them on the ground, they have the advantage with submissions and such and he has to let em go. And spot on with the body language.... I haven't seen somebody react to those soft clinch punches like that in the MMA. 

[charmon55]

2 minutes ago, pokemonster said:

That's what I noticed as well. His wrestling isn't gonna be effective if, once he gets them on the ground, they have the advantage with submissions and such and he has to let em go. And spot on with the body language.... I haven't seen somebody react to those soft clinch punches like that in the MMA. 

To be fair, Bo was reacting that way because of the body shots. de Ridder was lighting Bo's liver up before that exchange where Bo had his hands down in the clinch. He was trying to protect his body. Even high level UFC fighters will react that way to clean liver shots. Look at Jeremy Stephens vs Jose Aldo, Brandon Moreno vs Kai Kara France, Barbosa vs Hooker, the list goes on. 

[Boring]

10 minutes ago, charmon55 said:

To be fair, Bo was reacting that way because of the body shots. de Ridder was lighting Bo's liver up before that exchange where Bo had his hands down in the clinch. He was trying to protect his body. Even high level UFC fighters will react that way to clean liver shots. Look at Jeremy Stephens vs Jose Aldo, Brandon Moreno vs Kai Kara France, Barbosa vs Hooker, the list goes on. 

Lots of pro boxers have lost because of devastating liver shots over the years, for that matter. 

[Boring]

1 minute ago, scourge165 said:

Does it matter?

I never understand why in the midst of one of the hottest threads, people who have...no real role come in and try and dictate what the appropriate forum would be to move this topic to. 

 

I also don't understand what the cute little quip was about him being a former wrestler or a former COLLEGE WRESTLER, as though they're mutually exclusive. 

I don't know what your point is. What difference does it make to you?

I also remember threads about the best HS Wrestlers ever...in the COLLLEGE WRESTLING forums. 

 

If you're the ONLY person bothered by it, just suck it up...or...again, go to the MMA forum. 

I can see somebody bringing up "former wrestler" or "former COLLEGE WRESTLER". First, a guy could've wrestled in elementary school then quit the sport and started playing bball in 6th grade, maybe. I knew a bunch of guys who did that, but could you really even call them "former wrestlers" in an MMA respect if they haven't wrestled since 5th grade? Probably not. 

More likely the distinction is that of FS, Folk, or Greco. A "college wrestler" narrows it to only folk, and folk is considered better than Greco or FS in MMA because folk has a lot more of the "control" element than Greco or FS. 

[Winners Circle]

@scourge165

 

Does it matter?

I never understand why in the midst of one of the hottest threads, people who have...no real role come in and try and dictate what the appropriate forum would be to move this topic to. 

• None of us have a real role here lmao.

I also don't understand what the cute little quip was about him being a former wrestler or a former COLLEGE WRESTLER, as though they're mutually exclusive. 

• Because this is a COLLEGE WRESTLING board, not a FORMER WRESTLER board.

I don't know what your point is. What difference does it make to you?

I also remember threads about the best HS Wrestlers ever...in the COLLLEGE WRESTLING forums. 

• And that should not have been on this board either, but the HS wrestling board.

If you're the ONLY person bothered by it, just suck it up...or...again, go to the MMA forum. 

• I don't care about MMA, which is why I come to the COLLEGE WRESTLING forum, to get the news on COLLEGE WRESTLING. Pretty easy concept to grasp.