Do you think Bo Nickal can be a top 5 contender?

[Ayreon]

Chimaev
Ddp
Vettori
Costa
Whittaker
Imavov
Borralho
Cannonier
Allen

Good luck taking down one of them and good luck striking whit them as Bo did against Craig

The boy has no future at MW, he better go down to WW

 

[smart.feller]

Right now I think the top 10 all beat him, but I think he has time to develop. Given another 2 fights, I think he'll be ready for a top 10 opponent in early 2026. Let him fight Shara Bullet, both of them need a test and that would give Bo all the incentive to not abandon his ground game and would be an indicator of what would happen when faced with a solid striker.

 

[Brigfa2]

GOAT in MW, top 5 in LHW and HW

 

[Koala]

He's 28, doesn't appear near rounded enough to leverage his strengths (or maybe it was a shitty gameplan) and the competition that is close in age is more complete: DDP, Chimaev, Bo Rayo, Allen, Fluffy are around 30 yo. Even Imavov, Robocop, and Aliskerov are around this age
He will struggle to be top 5 with all these guys but clearly can be top 10. Even Shahbazyan was top 10 after beating Brad Tavares

 

[Mind Mine]

He isn’t there yet and they hyped him too early. His personality for a guy that isn’t there somehow worked my nerves and to the point I just want the competition stepped up so Nr. Nickle can humble himself

 

[Gamboal]

Visually his athleticism leaves a lot to be desired. Where's his muscles? He's also tiny for the division and punches like a ginge.

Imagine him standing next to Vettori or Costa he'd look a weight class down.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Chimaev
Ddp
Vettori
Costa
Whittaker
Imavov
Borralho
Cannonier
Allen

Good luck taking down one of them and good luck striking whit them as Bo did against Craig

The boy has no future at MW, he better go down to WW

Why couldn't Bo in his prime take some of those guys down? Whittaker was taken down and finished last month by someone who is the same size as Bo.

Bo is just very one dimensional for a fighter on the main card, but his wrestling is definitely legit.

 

[chinarice]

Doesn't look good so far. The best comparison I can think of is Weidman, another D1 wrestler. Bo has had 7 fights so far. Weidman fought and beat Maia in his 8th fight and I'm pretty sure they spent some time on the ground. And Maia was more dangerous than Craig. Weidman fought for the belt and won it by his 10th fight.

I'm not saying Bo has to follow the same path, but he's clearly not at a young Weidman's level yet.

Maybe Weidman vs. Bo would be an interesting fight, come to think of it.

Bo is nothing compared to Weidman. Weidman was a monster. He also fought Maia on 11 days notice. Bo would never accept a fight like that

 

[chinarice]

Why couldn't Bo in his prime take some of those guys down? Whittaker was taken down and finished last month by someone who is the same size as Bo.

Bo is just very one dimensional for a fighter on the main card, but his wrestling is definitely legit.

His wrestling is definitely overrated.

 

[Cartiac]

I think no. I don't think he has shown a real desire or aptitude to be a top fighter. What kind of wrestler comes in that much smaller than their opponent and then doesn't even try to take down a guy that is known to be happy lying on his back?

Bo talks like he is some young kid with all this room to grow, but at 28 he is not that young and his lack of experience is not a good thing at that age.

 

[NoStoneUnturned]

Its a bummer because I'm pulling for him, but in MMA you're only as good as your last fight and his last fight was uninspiring. He won, but failed the eye test. The issue I have is that he has a good camp and is putting in the work, which means all the practice isn't translating to output inside the cage. At this moment in time, top 10 at best.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Doesn't look good so far. The best comparison I can think of is Weidman, another D1 wrestler. Bo has had 7 fights so far. Weidman fought and beat Maia in his 8th fight and I'm pretty sure they spent some time on the ground. And Maia was more dangerous than Craig. Weidman fought for the belt and won it by his 10th fight.

I'm not saying Bo has to follow the same path, but he's clearly not at a young Weidman's level yet.

Maybe Weidman vs. Bo would be an interesting fight, come to think of it.

Yeah you could tell very early on that Weidman was an exceptional MMA talent. Bo was on a completely different level as a pure wrestler, but I will go out on a limb and say that I can tell he doesn't have the MMA talent of a Weidman, and even his wrestling in MMA won't be as good as prime Weidman. I will go out on a limb and say that Bo's MMA WRESTLING itself will not be dominant. Forget his overall game, I'm saying his straight up wrestling won't be effective against higher level opponents.

I hope I'm wrong though because I always root for Nickal and would love to see him represent American wrestling at the highest level. But I can't believe that in almost 2025 people are still assuming that if you're a high level wrestler it will automatically translate to MMA. We've seen plenty of examples to disprove that like Ed Ruth and Jake Rosholt (both 3 time NCAA champs).

Styles of wrestling and overall MMA game are far more important. I remember the ridiculous arguments when Brock was fighting Cain, a lot of Sherdoggers argued that Brock would win because he was a "better wrestler", and they based this on the fact that Brock won a title while Cain's highest finish was 4th place....but they wrestled in completely different years, Brock was older, and Cain had way better striking...

 

[188912345]

He could be, since UFC will most likely jump on the opportunity to put him in a favorable match-up in the top 5 vicinity if he continues to win. He obviously needs to improve a lot before that, and he needs to be very careful about his next step up in competition.

I think that's his absolute ceiling, not likely that he will ever be good enough to become champ.

 

[Xanzito]

I think he can do it. UFC should give him a ranked opponent next to hurry his journey along. How many unranked guy is he going to have to fight?

This, this is the slowest build-up of a record i've ever seen. Silva got Leben on his debut, Block got Mir, why glaze this dude so much till he gets a chance to prove himself

 

[Hdfi]

very promising prospect, I can see him becoming champion someday. Keep in mind that Bo made his MMA debut only 2 years ago and defeated Craig who is a solid fighter with over 10 years of experience.

 

[Xanzito]

Right now I think the top 10 all beat him, but I think he has time to develop. Given another 2 fights, I think he'll be ready for a top 10 opponent in early 2026.

Dude's slowly turning into the next Erick Silva meme.