“Who the f*ck is Bo Nickal?” – Sean Strickland throws nasty jab at rising star Bo Nickal
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Sean Strickland (L), Bo Nickal (R)
Bo Nickal, who hasn’t even had a fight in the UFC yet, is already being hyped up more than anyone else in the promotion’s recent history.
When Bo Nickal arrived on the scene in Dana White’s Contender Series, people promptly sat up to take notice. Labelled a phenom, the ATT gym fighter is a name people knew even before he was on the UFC’s books. However, after a scintillating finish in Jorge Masvidal’s regional promotion, Ikon FC, he made his way to the contender series, where he finished both his opponents in style.
Fights fans and experts fall into two categories when discussing Nickal. In the former camp, are experts like Henry Cejudo and Ariel Helwani who have repeatedly praised the wrestler.
Championing the other camp, is fellow middleweight Sean Strickland, who admitted he doesn’t even know who Bo Nickal is. In a video that has recently been published online, he said, “Who the f*ck is Bo Nickal? What is it, Bo Nickal? Who’s the guy?”
Upon enlightenment of Bo Nickal’s background credentials by his interlocutor, Strickland still remained defiant and said “Penn State? I don’t know who that guy is… Penn State? Don’t know they m*lest kids at that school? I don’t know dude! You stay in Penn State.”
For those who might not know, Bo Nickal was a member of the highly touted wrestling team of Penn State University. Much of Strickland’s words could be hyperbole, as he has quite an inflammatory character.
Related- “Future middleweight champion” – Who is the new UFC signee Bo Nickal?
Bo Nickal makes his debut at UFC 282
While Sean Strickland might not know who Bo Nickal is, fight fans definitely do.
His win over Donovan Beard last month, where he submitted him by triangle choke has left fight fans excited. Immediately after the fight, Dana White handed Nickal his UFC contract. To make things clear, fighting on the DWCS doesn’t entail fighting within the promotion. The DWCS is a handy scouting tool for the UFC to cherry-pick the best local talent and award outstanding performers with a contract.
Bo Nickal will make his debut at UFC 282 against 34-year-old Jamie Pickett. Pickett himself is a DWCS graduate, having officially entered the UFC in 2020. Since then, his career has been somewhat of a mixed bag – his record stands at 2-4 in the UFC. Nickal on the other hand is 3-0 in MMA.
However, UFC fights are a big step up from DWCS. In Pickett, Nickal will encounter a striker, which will give him the chance to showcase if he is good as a fighter, not just a wrestler.
UFC 282 also hosts Darren Till vs Dricus Du Plessis. Till and Nickal have exchanged lively jabs at each other on social media, so a fight in the future could be a possibility. Not only Till, but Sean Strickland could pose as a potential match-up as well.
But first, Nickal must overcome Pickett and make his home within the UFC before he can start calling bigger names out.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)