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Former RRHS wrestler Nickal wins UFC fight, loses crowd
Bo Nickal, right, punches Scotland’s Paul Craig during a UFC 309 middleweight title bout Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
NEW YORK CIYT — In a highly anticipated welterweight fight, Bo Nickal topped Paul Craig by unanimous decision (30-27 on all three judges cards).
Nickal, a one-time Rio Rancho High School wrestler, improved to 7-0. Surprisingly, he never once attempted a takedown of the larger Craig (17-8-1).
A former NCAA wrestling champion, Nickal’s fights lasted past the first round only once in his professional career. This one went the distance and the Madison Square Garden crowd responded with boos and chants of “over-rated!” disappointed with a fight that had relatively little action.
“They expect me to knock everyone out in 25 seconds or choke everyone out,” Nickal told Joe Rogan in the octagon in a post-fight interview. “I’m fired up about that performance.”
He later responded to a question asking him if this was just part of his process of growing as a fighter.
“Paul Craig has 26 pro fights and I have six and I whooped him for 15 minutes,” Nickal said. “So I’m fired up.”
Nickal was 10 when his family moved to Rio Rancho in 2006.
His father, Jason Nickal, accepted the job as RRHS head wrestling coach and took the Rams to four consecutive Class 5A state titles. The family moved to Texas in 2010, but not before a young Bo Nickal, wrestling as an eighth-grader on varsity, lost the 103-pound state championship.
