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Here Come the “Fraud” Takes After Penn State’s Bo Nickal Loses First MMA Fight
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Penn State alum Bo Nickal, one of the best wrestlers from one of the country’s best wrestling schools, lost his first MMA fight on Saturday night:
For starters, Reinier de Ridder is not some bum. He was a double champ in Asian promotion ONE, holding the middleweight and light heavyweight belts at the same time. RDR came to the UFC only recently and had a funky first fight against veteran Gerald Meerschaert, then submitted Kevin Holland with ease and ran through Nickal with little issue. He’s 6’4″, a huge UFC middleweight and one of the best Jiu Jitsu and grappling guys in the division. This was only an upset to people who aren’t familiar with promotions not named UFC.
That being said, Bo was undefeated coming in, and naturally when you lose your first fight a bunch of people log on and call you a fraud:
We can argue about what constitutes a fraud check, but, more importantly, Nickal didn’t show a lot of resilience in the fight. He took a couple of shots, ate some dirty boxing in the clinch, and seemed to fold without putting up too much resistance. There was some grappling on the fence and exchanging of positions, but no identifiable game plan from Bo. It was one of those things where it’s not that he lost, it’s how he lost that makes you wonder.
This was positioned, probably unfairly, as a referendum on American wrestling. It was previewed as one of our best wrestlers vs. a foreigner’s Jiu Jitsu, Judo, and submission skills. We just didn’t see much of the former at all, at least not offensively. RDR was the initiator and more active in a variety of ways, while Bo looked like he was out of his depth.
What’s more is that Nickal was fighting in Big 10 country, Des Moines, Iowa, which only elevated the wrestling thing to levels untenable. That whole storyline was overblown, but the performance was underwhelming to the point where you do wonder if the ceiling is lower than we thought.
That being said, the reason this shouldn’t be seen as some be-all, end-all is two fold.
One, RDR is really good. The guy was 19-2 coming into the fight and both losses were to this bruising, massive Russian dude.
Two, sometimes you’re a victim of your own potential, especially in the combat sports world, where promoters find a guy they like and give that guy a push. See, for example, the UFC 300 main card that he had no business being on. There was a lot of hype around Nickal, some he helped generate with comments about possible future opponents, and some he didn’t, but at the end of the day we’re talking about a 29-year-old guy with fewer than 10 pro fights who lost to one of the best grapplers out there. Now he knows what he’s dealing with at the top of the ladder and has a clear picture of what he needs to do if he wants to keep rising. Is he big enough for 185? Can he cut down to 170? Does he need to be more assertive and play to his strength? The good thing is that you learn more from losses than wins.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com