News Reinier de Ridder vs Bo Nickal set for UFC Des Moines on May 3

[Daniel Henry]

This fight is going to look a lot like this

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Bo via pathetic decision throwing kicks and overhands from a mile away and not engaging in grappling.

Hopefully RDR via sub

 

[Neck&Neck]

Big Bo is a lock !!

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

Bo is much more athletic than RDR, and people are overrating BJJ.

High level wrestling >>> high level BJJ

Bo Nickal bh decision, I think.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

this is gonna be the ugliest striking fight in a good while i bet

I don't see any way your wrong unless he catches a sub in some boring scramble or bo hits him with some shitty haymaker

 

[prime_lobov]

Would rather see Bo vs Izzy or Caio

 

[Hdfi]

reminds me there's a difference between normal white, and white white.

What's the difference?

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Clash of styles.

Will be interesting to see if they keep it on the feet or go at each other with their respective specialities.

 

[JoeRowe]

Sandhagen vs Figgy
RDR vs Nickal
Vera vs Bautista
Ponzi vs D-Rod
Marina vs Gillian
Montel vs Marcos
Stephens vs Jones

Pretty solid FN

 

[Chayanne]

De Ridder is Dutch and the Netherlands is known for top kickboxers, but De Ridder is a grappler and I wonder if his level is high

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I think I like RDR in this fight, unless Nickal can land another massive overhand to the chest

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I fear that Bo will get rocked and perhaps TKOd in this fight by one of the worst strikers in the entire division. RDR is big and durable, and he'll push the fight both with takedowns and striking. Sadly I think that alone will be enough to overwhelm Bo, make him panic and make a mental mistake that will leave him vulnerable.

I hope I'm wrong and Bo looks absolutely phenomenal, streamrolling RDR in all aspects, because I want to believe he's the American hope, but I just don't see the MMA talent at all yet. He does not look anywhere in the same universe as Chris Weidman did with a similar level of experience and training. It just goes to show you that just because Bo was light years better at the sport they both grew up doing, wrestling, that it doesn't mean Bo will be better at MMA, and in this case much worse. It is yet more counter evidence to the A-level athlete theory.

This more or less sums up my thoughts. I'm a fan of Nickal and I'd love to see him succeed, but at this stage of his career, Weidman was threatening Andre Galvao with chokes at ADCC and KO'ing Uriah Hall. It's still too early to make too much of a judgment imo, but Bo showed some major holes in his last fight that I'm not sure he'll have sewn up by now.

 

[richardjohnson]

Would be cool if RDR chokes his ass out

 

[Ace70 V2]

I hope Bo gets a bad L here. His ego needs to be checked.

 

[Gabe]

Nickal was so afraid to grapple Craig how scared will he be against RDR?

He’ll probably go for the same approach.

 

[Ares Black]

What's the difference?

Extra whiteness

 

[Ares Black]

Would be cool if RDR chokes his ass out

He should choke his neck instead

 

[FriskyRandy]

I certainly wouldn't bet on this fight. Will Bo be an underdog here?

 

[El Fernas]

Nice test for Nickal, RDR looked great last time out, on a smaller guy, but still, only 2 loses were against a much bigger guy.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I got RDR with this one.