Rumored Bo Nickal vs Reinier de Ridder in the works? Date TBD

[Khaosan]

They’re trying to feed him another Paul Craig style matchup. A dude with zero striking who can’t get him to the ground.

 

[Aurelian]

I think RDR should be favoured, but not nearly that much IMO.

His striking is rudimentary at best. He is one of the few ranked fighters in the UFC that might be a worse striker than Nickal. And with Nickal's wrestling this could wind up as a kickboxing match.

I'm not certain Bo is a better striker either. I think RDR's experience is going to play a role and he's close to his prime still. He was a 2 weight champion in ONE. He just choked out Kevin Holland within a round. Bo is fucked.

 

[Necrocrawler]

Great matchup. RDR has the tools to pull an upset tbh.

 

[usernamee]

are you even familiar with who Reiner is? He's a beast on the ground, has like 5 black belts in judo and a jui-jitsu champion. How is this a favorable matchup for Nickal??

You don't seem to understand my post.

 

[RockyLockridge]

His striking is rudimentary at best. He is one of the few ranked fighters in the UFC that might be a worse striker than Nickal. And with Nickal's wrestling this could wind up as a kickboxing match.

+115 nickal sounds right to me, but yeah pretty much the same fight as the craig fight with the question being who's striking is better between the 2

 

[usernamee]

I think RDR should be favoured, but not nearly that much IMO.

His striking is rudimentary at best. He is one of the few ranked fighters in the UFC that might be a worse striker than Nickal. And with Nickal's wrestling this could wind up as a kickboxing match.

Yeah, I'm not saying anything about the outcome of this fight but it's just another matchup where we wont learn much about Bo.

He can stop the takedown from a jitz player? That doesn't get my cock hard and show me anything for the future.

He can marginally outpoint a jitz player with poor striking on the feet? That doesn't prove much of anything either..

 

[JoeRowe]

Nickal probably has a very good chance of preventing takedowns and keeping it on the feet where both guys suck ass. I would’ve liked to see Bo against someone who isn’t a specialist.

Woodburn = total tomato can
Brundage = can
Craig = specialist
De Ridder = specialist

But okay. At least De Ridder is a dangerous fighter and has more tricks up his sleeve to get it to the ground than Craig. Now put him against someone like Michel Pereira or someone like that and we’ll see what’s what.

Costa = lost 4 of 5
Cannonier = 41 yrs old
Fluffy = 1 dimensional grappler
Izzy = 1 dimensional striker
Strickland = 1 dimensional boxer

Anyone he gets booked against you'd bitch about, let's be real.

 

[Aurelian]

+115 nickal sounds right to me, but yeah pretty much the same fight as the craig fight with the question being who's striking is better between the 2

I really don't think Bo's grappling is much for RDR to worry about. He's probably going to be the one initiating the grappling. Craig was a fossil. RDR is a lot more athletic though he might not look it.

 

[sonhow]

Based on last fights Bo either puts him out early as he does have pop there or this becomes a war. Im not sure Bo can handle that. He might but I dunno.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

I'm not certain Bo is a better striker either. I think RDR's experience is going to play a role and he's close to his prime still. He was a 2 weight champion in ONE. He just choked out Kevin Holland within a round. Bo is fucked.

RDRs striking looks terrible but he's big and durable, he has no defense and gets lit up standing but he takes it. It will be interesting because RDR will not be content to sit and have a shit Kickboxing match, he will push for the takedown, which makes this a lot more interesting than the Craig fight. I really am starting to think he will beat Bo.

 

[Krixes]

This is good matchmaking...

 

[Spath]

Costa = lost 4 of 5
Cannonier = 41 yrs old
Fluffy = 1 dimensional grappler
Izzy = 1 dimensional striker
Strickland = 1 dimensional boxer

Anyone he gets booked against you'd bitch about, let's be real.

Nope, all those guys are seriously talented and proven. All are also ranked in the top10 so I’m okay with UFC saving Nickal from a total ass whooping.

Before Bo fought Craig I posted exactly how I see the fight going. It was spot on and it made me feel exactly 0% better since the fight was boring, it sucked, we learned nothing new about either guy. Shit match making. What did they expect?

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Bo really out here becoming the next can crusher.

Even makes MVP look good.

 

[maximus__]

are you even familiar with who Reiner is? He's a beast on the ground, has like 5 black belts in judo and a jui-jitsu champion. How is this a favorable matchup for Nickal??

Because Reiner has bad takedowns and probably can't get him down. Nickal is also choosing to strike over wrestle currently.
Reiner most likely can't get Nickal down without pulling guard and can't hang on the feet. Maybe some Judo throws if we are lucky.

This lets Nickal get a ranked win and all he has to do is keep it standing and throw a 1-2 occasionally. This will most likely be a boring kickboxing fight.
Think Koscheck vs Diego back on the day.

 

[Tweak896]

A wrestler like Bo should mop up the floor with a guy like RDR. That said, Bo seems on one of the slowest tracks and doesn't really seem like a great striker despite his power. This is time for Bo to redeem himself for his win over Craig.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Train Wreck of a fight!

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Don’t underrate RDR too much, he was landing clean on GM3 a lot and hurt him bad standing (when most of us, me included, felt Gerald had far better boxing).

His weakness’ are he gasses fast from pushing a pace, has terrible defense and footwork, and is very single-minded throughout a fight whatever phase it’s in.

But Nickal doesn’t really have the skill set to run over him, at best he can make it a sloppy slow kickboxing fight where he can outwork RDR and maybe catch him late when gassed bad.

If RDR is recklessly pushing into the pocket though it could get real interesting in the clinch and scrambles.

RDR gets underrated for the same reason DDP does, he moves goofy (though I rate DDP much higher).
The only guy he's lost to is juicehead Malykin, a HW, at 205 and 225.
Submitting Gerald is no small feat (insert Jan Blachowicz looking confused) and he made Kevin look like an amateur.

Bo's only real path to victory here is a boring outside kickboxing match, but RDR is nowhere near as shopworn as Craig to just let it happen, he's going to push the engagement and I agree with you that the clinching and scrambles are going to look really interesting.

 

[FriskyRandy]

That's a tough fight. If Bo wins, he's top 10, right?

 

[FriskyRandy]

That's a tough fight. If Bo wins, he's top 10, right?

Bo really out here becoming the next can crusher.

Even makes MVP look good.

Casual level comnent.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

RDR gets underrated for the same reason DDP does, he moves goofy (though I rate DDP much higher).
The only guy he's lost to is juicehead Malykin, a HW, at 205 and 225.
Submitting Gerald is no small feat (insert Jan Blachowicz looking confused) and he made Kevin look like an amateur.

Bo's only real path to victory here is a boring outside kickboxing match, but RDR is nowhere near as shopworn as Craig to just let it happen, he's going to push the engagement and I agree with you that the clinching and scrambles are going to look really interesting.

RDR isn't nearly the physical specimen as DDP - not as durable, not as fast, more predictable with his entries, doesn't get in and out of the pocket well. DDP might be awkward and have terrible footwork and over-extend himself on strikes but he is shockingly fast, incredibly tough, and somehow even though he seems gassed he keeps that pace and even ups it without getting sloppier or broken down.

Bo could also possibly win by out-wrestling RDR after round 1 if he's able to survive RDR recklessly pushing forward into the pocket because as I said, RDR does not really have a great gas tank when he meets resistance and can't stream-roll guys, even against an old and declined GM3 they were both exhausted and sloppy by the end of the first.

I also don't think RDR has the type of bottom game to threaten as much as Craig (where everyone seems overly afraid of his triangle set-ups), so if he's tired he might just get held down and grinded out by Bo, who for all his shortcomings is a very good wrestler that if can get it into that phase with a tired opponent that isn't as athletic can just slowly drain his energy and stall out the fight.