‘There Are Levels to This’ UFC Ref Breaks Down Bo Nickal’s Growing Pains After Professional Loss
Bo Nickal just suffered the first loss of his MMA career in a brutal and one-sided fashion against former two-division ONE MMA champion Reinier De Ridder at UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo. De Ridder put an absolute beatdown on Bo Nickal and finished him with a vicious knee to the solar plexus that crumpled the collegiate wrestler.
Former UFC referee and Bellator commentator John McCarthy would weigh in on the matter, and was quite blunt, but was not as harsh on the American wrestler as other people in the MMA sphere have been. The former referee said the following.
“Bo Nickal learned: hey, there are levels to everything. His wrestling is really good, but he’s going to have to get better everywhere, because as you go up the ladder, everyone gets tougher. His loss? Big deal. Everyone’s going to get one.”
It’s not over yet for Bo Nickal.
Nickal is still a relatively young fighter as he is only 29 years old, and despite being rightfully trashed by the rest of the MMA community for his rather unlikeable demeanor, it’s still not over for the wrestler-turned-fighter, as other wrestlers have come and gone in MMA. If Nickal truly wants to be a fighter, he must evolve and humble himself, as not only did he get out-grappled, but a BJJ fighter easily outstruck him. So for Nickal, it’s not over yet, but he must evolve or his career will die.
