UFC Middleweight Prospect Bo Nickal was persuaded to move to the Welterweight Division by a former champion.
The dominant start of Bo Nickal of his MMA career came to an abrupt end at UFC des Moines, thanks to the former two-division champion Reinier de Ridder. In a shocking result, De Ridder ended with a knee on the liver in round 2 to beat the blue chip his first MMA defeat.
It was a stunning end of the UFC des Moines Co-Main event, after Nickal had started the fight as a modest favorite after four wins to start his UFC official period. The Alum of the Contender Series of Dana White is the target of harsh criticism since the fight, including a former lightweight that calls Dana White to cut Nickal.
Nickal admitted in an interview after the fight that he knew there was a chance that he would be 'exposed' in UFC des Moines. But after his first MMA opposite, a former champion Nickal called on to make a surprising change for his next Octagon performance.
Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC
Bo Nickal responds to calls for a good weight movement after UFC des Moines
Former UFC Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, who made the full-time transition from bantam weight to featherweight after a loss for Sean O'Malley, asked the frame of Nickal that was suitable for the middleweight division. Sterling encouraged Nickal and his team to strongly consider a step to 170 pounds, an important change after cutting nearly 40 pounds just a few days before UFC des Moines.
Nickal has forced his entire MMA career in the middleweight and only fought once as low as 174 pounds in his collegial wrestler. He was a NCAA Division I who struggled national champion in Penn State before launching his MMA career in 2022.
The comments from Sterling received divided reviews from MMA fans, with some people wonder whether a switch to Welterweight would be worth the Blue-Chip front view Nickal. But after the comments from Sterling became viral, it didn't take long before Nickal responded.
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani asked Nickal about Sterling's comments after an appearance in the Ariel Helwani show.
“I can't make 170,” Nickal said challenging.
“I am at 185.”
Although Nickal seems satisfied in fighting in the middleweight, it is not unheard of hunters to change ideas in favor of weight class drops later in their career. Kayla Harrison is the best example because she made the switch from lightweight to bantam weight when she drew at the UFC.
Nickal is at 6'1 ″ and is slightly below the average height for UFC center weights and was a few centimeters shorter than the knight at UFC des Moines. After cutting the weight since he first started struggling, Nickal seems to make dramatic weight reductions in this phase of his martial arts career.
Dric Du Plessis 'satisfied' watching the first loss of Bo Nickal
UFC Middleweight Champion Dric Du Plessis had an interesting view of Nickal's performance at UFC des Moines. In a recent podcast performance, Du Plessis Roasten for his previous bragging comments and he expressed little sympathy for the middleweight star.
Du Plessis has updated fans on a timeline for his next expected middleweight title defense against Khamzat Chimaev, after injury rumors the matchup postponed briefly. Du Plessis says that a fighting announcement is imminent, potentially for as soon as UFC 319 in August.
After the loss of Nickal at UFC des Moines, his path to the middleweight Top 15 hit a large speed bump. Following Nickal's earlier comments about Du Plessis and the top middle weights, Du Plessis liked to see the talented middleweight suffer in the Octagon.