Picture Credit: Twitter
Wrestling sensation, three-time NCAA champion and winner of the 2019 Dan Hodge Trophy Bo Nickal will make his MMA debut at Jorge Masvidal’s MMA promotion iKon Fighting Championship. Nickal (0-0) will make his professional MMA debut when he fights John Noland (0-0) in a middleweight match.
Nickal confirmed the news on Twitter and wrote, “I’ll be making my pro debut June 3 with @GamebredFighter’s iKON FC live on @UFCFightPass In 10 years, you’re gonna want to tell everyone you witnessed my first pro fight. Don’t miss it.”
The bout will take place on 3 June at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia, and will be available on UFC Fight Pass. Nickal has been a dominant force in the freestyle wrestling world as he took gold in both the 2019 US National Champions (92 kg) and the U23 World Championships (92 kg).
So far in his amateur MMA career, Nickal has a record of 2-0 as he made his debut in September 2021. Both of his fights were first-round wins, his debut ended with a submission win, followed by one violently devastating knockout.
“I want to be the UFC champion at middleweight,” Nickal
Bo Nickal while talking to UFC.com talked about winning the Middleweight championship. He said, “It was definitely something that I strived for and wanted to win from a young age and it was a great honour for me. I’m happy to bring that accolade to MMA. I don’t know that there’s any Hodge Trophy winners coming in aside from me.”
“My goal with MMA is I want to be the UFC champion at middleweight and undisputed number one pound-for-pound guy in the world,” Nickal said. “That’s the plan for me and I train every day with that on my mind.”
“Bo’s a stud,” Masvidal
UFC star Jorge Masvidal has been praising Bo Nickal for quite some time now. Masvidal had tweeted after Nickal’s knockout win as he deemed the performance as a “manslaughter.” He also praised his wrestling abilities and called him a ‘stud’. Masvidal said, “I can’t do nothing to that dude in wrestling, man… That’s the guy to look out for. Bo’s a stud.”