Young wrestling star Bo Nickal set to make MSG…
UFC 309 marks the Madison Square Garden debut for the most important blue chipper within the sport, Bo Nickal.
Well, kind of.
OK, not likely.
Bo Nickal talking to the press at NYC Hilton Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan. Robert Miller
The 27-year-old wrestling wunderkind out of Penn State has by no means fought on the Garden. He’ll break the seal on that distinction Saturday night time towards Scotland’s Paul Craig.
But Nickal is all too accustomed to the World’s Most Famous Arena, the place loads of tears have been shed upon falling short the one time he wasn’t the highest collegiate wrestler in his weight class.
As a 19-year-old freshman in 2016, the top-ranked 174-pounder in Division I settled for runner-up standing towards Ohio State’s Myles Martin.
“It’s funny, I was at the Rangers game [Tuesday] night, and it was like, a lot of emotion coming back because I was walking backstage and I saw, just like, some of the spots that I was, like, crying in and stuff like that,” Nickal recalled with The Post during this week’s UFC 309 media day.stated. “And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s so crazy. It was right there almost 10 years ago,’ and now we’re back.”
Nickal (6-0, six finishes) typically doesn’t do shedding. He fell simply as soon as more as a sophomore on his means to three NCAA particular person titles and an total 120-3 NCAA file.
Though his Olympic desires got here up short three years in the past on the U.S. crew trials, he’s unbeaten since making the transition to MMA.
Elite wrestlers can go far on this sport, and Nickal is one of essentially the most pedigreed to make the leap. It’s on the heart of why there’s a lot pleasure within the struggle sport for how far he can go.
The UFC rapidly caught wind and may need signed Nickal proper after successful his professional debut in 33 seconds in June 2022, however it opted to have him compete twice on the prospect-mining Dana White’s Contender Series first.
Bo Nickal walks on stage during the UFC 309 ceremonial weigh-in at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2024 in New York City. Zuffa LLC
Chalk that up more to utilizing Nickal’s already simmering title worth to draw eyeballs to the UFC pipeline program.
As prospects go, Nickal is a promotional unicorn.
He has competed solely on pay-per-view programming, debuting at UFC 285 final 12 months on the pay-per-view portion of Jon Jones’ heavyweight debut.
(Jones lastly places the championship he gained that night time on the road for the primary time in Saturday’s most important occasion towards Stipe Miocic.)
Opponents Bo Nickal and Paul Craig of Scotland face off during the UFC 309 ceremonial weigh-in at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2024 in New York City. Zuffa LLC
Although he says he would struggle on the intimate UFC Apex, he’s sensible enough to see what’s occurring with the management of his budding profession.
“I think that it just goes to show the type of draw I am, how many people want to watch me, and the support that I have from the wrestling community and that growing community of fans,” Nickal stated of his marquee placement on tentpole occasions. “I don’t think that they’re putting me on pay-per-view cards, UFC 300, MSG, these massive shows for no reason, right? It’s a little bit to build me, but it’s also because a lot of people want to watch me.”
Most of their third 12 months of preventing are nonetheless on the regional scene, in lots of circumstances taking 5 or more bouts a 12 months to construct expertise — and earn some money, which isn’t plentiful on the regional scene.
Nickal’s distinctive combine of decades-honed wrestling prowess and title worth have him incomes a more comfy dwelling than nearly anybody with merely a half-dozen professional bouts on his ledger, however it’s come on the value of in-cage expertise.
Bo Nickal poses on the size during the UFC 309 ceremonial weigh-in at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2024 in New York City. Zuffa LLC
The UFC has saved him at a tempo of two fights per 12 months.
Nickal acknowledges the double-edged sword he’s working with.
“It hurts because I just don’t have the cage time that other people have. I’ve had less than 10 minutes in the cage in total in my pro career, and most people get that in one fight,” Nickal explains. “As far as experience goes, that’s a negative. But you look at the positives. I’m healthy; I, obviously, have a 100 percent finish rate, and a lot of people want to see me fight. For me, again, the main focus is just developing, improving, getting better. The result of the fight is kind of secondary, right?”
Craig (17-8-1, 17 finishes) represents the subsequent massive stepping stone in a profession some project might take off by leaps and bounds.
A win over the submission ace, who has beforehand appeared within the UFC’s divisional rankings however has misplaced 4 of his final 5, might set him up for a ranked opponent subsequent 12 months. And already some envision a not-too-distant future by which he fights for the UFC middleweight championship.
But Nickal is comfy with the cadence of his rise. He’s good with the method of including expertise and enhancing whereas gaining cage time.
UFC gold, he expects, will come, however in due time.
“I think I got a lot of work to do, in my opinion,” Nickal says. “I’m always gonna have a lot of work to do. Even when I’m the champ, there’s still a lot of development to be done, so … there’s no limits on the timeline of the way that it needs to go, in my mind. I’m just focused on development, improving, getting better. If it happens in a year, great. It happens in three years, great. I just know where I’m headed. I know my trajectory, and that’s really what I’m concerned with.”
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