Was The Bo Nickal Experiment a Failure? Olympian and UFC Champ Weighs in Ahead of UFC 322
UFC legend Daniel Cormier has explained why he doesn’t think people should be dismissing the potential of Bo Nickal‘s mixed martial arts career, even after his first career loss to Reinier de Ridder.
Earlier this year, Bo Nickal came up short in a one-sided defeat at the hands of Reinier de Ridder. It served as the first defeat that he had tasted inside the cage and for a lot of his haters, it was a ‘told you so’ moment. A lot of critics have been doubting Bo’s ability to compete with the elite fighters of the sport, and while RDR certainly qualifies in that category at middleweight, the trolling of Nickal certainly didn’t take very long to come into effect.
Now, Bo Nickal is out to redeem himself. He will attempt to do so this weekend when he goes head to head with Rodolfo Vieira at UFC 322, in a fight that has the potential to be pretty intriguing. It was bumped down from the main card to the prelims, but even with that being the case, Nickal is still likely to have plenty of eyes on him, as the former amateur wrestling sensation tries to prove that he has what it takes to hang at this level.
In a recent interview, the aforementioned Daniel Cormier decided to weigh in on the Bo Nickal debate as we get closer and closer to fight night in New York City.
Daniel Cormier’s thoughts on Bo Nickal’s MMA career
“So many people are hitting this panic button like his career’s over, like he’s done. The Bo Nickal experience was a failure. I don’t think that’s true. I think we should give more credit to Reinier de Ridder for being as good as he was… The sky’s still the limit.
“There’s only two American wrestlers that are our two best hopes as Americans for a champion that are wrestlers. It starts with Gable Steveson. Right behind him is still Bo Nickal. There’s no one else. …
“If Bo gets the job done this weekend, we as MMA fans are short short memory, and I believe that everything will be right back on track, especially if he looks good this weekend.”
