Bo Nickal continues to raise questions about his combat sports career even when he doesn’t compete.
It was Nickal’s absence at this past Saturday’s RAF 5 event that has once again put the three-time NCAA Division-I wrestling National Champion under the microscope as he was originally scheduled to face Yoel Romero in the evening’s co-main event. However, Romero missed weight for the contest (the official number wasn’t revealed, but Nickal said Romero missed by seven pounds), and Nickal declined to face him. Romero instead went on to lose via tech fall to Stephen Buchanan in an openweight match.
It was the second time an RAF bout between Nickal and Romero fell through and even though it was Romero who missed weight, Nickal has felt some of the backlash of choosing not to stay on the card.
On Submission Radio, former fighter and veteran analyst Kenny Florian gave his take on whether it was wise for Nickal to pass on the opportunity to wrestle Romero.
“It’s tough because I’m not quite sure what the perspective is from Nickal and why he decided not to,” Florian said. “Is he competing because he’s trying to get better as a martial artist, a fighter, a wrestler, whatever it is, and kind of doing it for fun? Is he doing it because he’s trying to notch yet another win and help the perception of him as an athlete, as a competitor, and perhaps he was concerned that if he did lose, especially against a guy in Yoel Romero who is an elite, elite wrestler, did he feel that he was going to hurt his brand even more?
“I don’t know. It’s a little bit of a concern because, again, this is not a mixed martial arts fight that’s going to go down on his record and I still think if he lost, people would not see it so negatively. I don’t know. I think that when he lost [to Reinier de Ridder] that kind of was a big blow to his ego and his momentum as well. I don’t know, maybe that was on the back of his mind. He didn’t want to deal with the criticism. But yeah, the way I would approach that, if I am a current UFC fighter, I’m doing that to just get better at my craft. I’m not taking a wrestling match so seriously.
“You’re going against a guy in Yoel Romero, yes, he’s older, but this is a guy who accomplished more in wrestling that Nickal did on the international, on the global circuit. When you’re talking about the Olympics, world championships, all that stuff, no shame in losing to someone like Yoel Romero, but I don’t know.”
Following an outstanding collegiate wrestling career, Nickal transitioned to MMA and found immediate success, finishing his first two amateur fights and first five pro fights in the first round, including appearances in the UFC and Dana White’s Contender Series. His hype train hit a snag when he won a forgettable decision over Paul Craig and then nearly derailed completely when he was finished by the more experienced Reinier de Ridder to suffer his first loss.
Despite Nickal’s recent hurdles, Florian still considers him championship material, so long as he can refine the rougher edges of his game.
“What’s his ceiling like?” Florian said. “I still think he has a ton of potential. I think he’s a phenomenal athlete. One does not achieve what he did in NCAA wrestling at the Division-I level unless you’re a phenomenal athlete. You wouldn’t achieve that if you didn’t have an incredible mindset and all those things that go with it. I think he can apply that same kind of approach to mixed martial arts, but I am concerned when I hear certain things that he says and maybe certain decisions that he makes. I’m concerned with the ego piece because you will be humbled in training.
“I don’t care what kind of athlete you are, what your background is, if you’re a world champion in this or that, mixed martial arts is such a vast ocean. There’s so many things that can be exposed in your game and if you’re afraid of doing striking or bringing in a certain training partner or not wanting to look bad in training, then that’s a concern. That is a concern. And the fact that he largely has been training with a small camp. Yes, it’s [American Top Team]-affiliated, but he’s not at the actual ATT challenging himself against other elite guys from what I can tell. So I don’t know, but as far as an athlete, I think the sky’s the limit. I still think he can be a world champion in this sport, it just comes down to how he prepares his training and what kind of mindset he has moving forward.”
As contentious as fans can be with Nickal, the 29-year-old hasn’t shied away from responding to criticism, which Florian sees as both a pro and a con. He wondered if Nickal—who returned to the win column at UFC 322 with a spectacular head kick knockout over Rodolfo Vieira—would be better off embracing who he is as opposed to feeling like he has to choose and sell a certain persona.
Florian added that he understands why Nickal approaches the business the way he does, and that his attitude could be why he’s experienced so much success—and why he hits a wall every now and then.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Florian said. “In many cases, it can fuel you, like in training and for what you do and being pissed off at the fans or being pissed off that you lost or whatever or dealing with criticism, but I do think at the end of the day—and this is way easier said than done—not caring what people think about you is a superpower if you’re a professional athlete or someone in the limelight in some way, shape, or form.
“You’ve got to focus on what you’re doing and if you’re just concerned with everybody else, your ego ultimately is going to restrict your development. Maybe that’s why he didn’t wrestle Yoel Romero.”
