Bo Nickal watched as his alma mater Penn State demonstrated its dominance in the sport of wrestling in front of a packed Bryce Jordan Center in University Park. In an interview with Penn State Wrestling, the former three-time NCAA division 1 champion discussed his switch to mixed martial arts.
Nickal made his professional MMA debut under the iKon FC banner last year, and after just three bouts, he was offered a contract by the UFC. The Allen Assassin claims that despite winning the Hodge prize in wrestling, he nearly had to begin his MMA training from scratch. Middleweight in the UFC said:
“You know, just approaching the sport from a beginner’s standpoint, just being aware of the pace, the range, etc. I know that switching from wrestling to MMA and having to start over from scratch is tough but also quite thrilling.”
Penn State, the current top team in college wrestling, defeated No. 2 Iowa on Friday by a score of 23-14. Roman Bravo-Young, a star player at Penn State, pinned former teammate Brody Teske to increase the Nittany Lions’ winning streak to 39 games.
Bo Nickal is set to make his UFC debut
Bo Nickal won consecutive first-round submission victories in Dana White’s contender series last year, earning him a contract with the UFC. Following that, the former NCAA champion was scheduled to fight Jamie Pickett at UFC 282 in December.
If he wasn’t given a main card place at UFC 282, “The Allen Assassin,” who has previously challenged Israel Adesanya and Khamzat Chimaev, even threatened to retire. But because Nickal had to leave because of an injury, the contest was never completed.
The match has now been rescheduled to appear on the main card of UFC 285, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena on March 4.