Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold believes Bo Nickal has all the tools to be good, Right now, however, he doesn’t think the former Penn State wrestler would do well against the elite of the division.
Nickal scored a first-round submission win on Dana White’s Contender Series last week and will return on September 27 again on DWCS. Should he win that fight, it’s likely he will get a UFC contract. For Rockhold, he doesn’t think Nickal would do well against top competition in the middleweight division.
Luke Rockhold Gave His Opinion of Bo Nickal
“Bo Nickal would get abused – absolutely abused,” Rockhold told The Schmo.
“It’s different, you know. It’s different. Wrestling is … you know, you can go so far until you run into the likes of me. But Bo, he’s an incredible character. The kid looks good, but he fought a f*cking bum, so who the f*ck knows. But I know his accolades and I know his team. I wrestle with a lot of the guys from that cycle of learning, and you know, we’ll see what the kid makes of it.”
Nickal saw Rockhold’s comments and, addressing it on Instagram, had the following to say: “Yo whatttt?!! Why is this clown even taking about me. ‘The likes of me’ he says. I’m dying.”
Who is Bo Nickal?
Nickal is now just 2-0 as a pro and coming off a submission win over Zachary Borrego. In his debut, he scored a KO win over John Noland. Before turning pro, he compiled a record of 120-3 in NCAA wrestling and was a Hodge Trophy Winner.
As for Rockhold, he is set to return to the Octagon at UFC 278 against Paulo Costa. It will be his first fight since he lost to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 in July of 2019 in his light heavyweight debut. The former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champ is hoping to earn a title shot with a win.
