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Bo Nickal finally earned his UFC contract after beating Donovan Beard in Dana White's Contender Series on Tuesday.
Nickal will be competing in the middleweight division, with the 26-year-old already scheduled to fight at UFC 282 later this year. This will feel very normal for the NCAA All-American, with all of his previous MMA bouts being contested in the middleweight division across multiple organizations.
The 26-year-old is set to take on Jamie Pickett, who last competed at UFC 279 in a losing effort against Denis Tiuliulin. The pay-per-view event will take place in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.
Nickal has only fought three times as a professional MMA fighter and has never gone past the first round. Weight hasn't been an issue for Nickal so far in his career. We've seen how cut-throat the UFC can be for weight cutting issues, with Aspen Ladd recently being released from the organization due to failing multiple weight cuts.
The 26-year-old wrestled at 213lbs in 2020, when taking on Olympic Gold medalist Kyle Snyder. While both of Nickal's amateur fights also took place at 185lbs, this does show that the American could potentially move up in weight in the future.
Read about: Different Weight Classes in the UFC
Henry Cejudo states that Bo Nickal could easily take down Khamzat Chimaev
Bo Nickal has a lot of hype despite only fighting three times as a professional MMA fighter and Henry Cejudo seemingly has high hopes for 'The Allen Assassin'. Cejudo believes that Nickal's wrestling ability is better than Khamzat Chimaev and stated that he could easily take down the rising Russian MMA star.
While speaking on his YouTube channel about Nickal's wrestling abilities, Henry Cejudo stated:
"Chimaev thinks he’s good in wrestling – his wrestling is nowhere near Bo Nickal, I can tell you that. He can take down these UFC guys that have never wrestled. Try taking Bo Nickal down, and 100 percent I can see Bo Nickal easily taking down Khamzat Chimaev."
Watch Cejudo speak about the UFC's newest stars here:
Nickal is yet to make his UFC debut, so a lot of these comparisons are very early in the 26-year-old's MMA career. Both Chimaev and Nikal are national champion wrestlers in their native countries, so the clash could be a wrestling clinic for the ages.
