Former Penn State wrestling standout Bo Nickal has been encouraged to return to his grappling roots following the first major setback of his professional MMA career.
Nickal (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) suffered his first loss last Saturday in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 67, where he was stopped by former two-division ONE Championship titleholder Reinier de Ridder (20-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC).
After a dominant start in the UFC, Nickal had confidently stated his ambitions to become a future middleweight champion. However, when faced with a significant step up in competition against de Ridder, his weaknesses in striking became apparent.
Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub believes Nickal should focus on sharpening his grappling game rather than diverting attention to striking improvements.
"There aren't enough hours in the day for where Bo's striking is about to get to an elite level. There's not," Schaub said on his YouTube channel. "Bo is an elite athlete, but that's how hard striking is. Striking in MMA takes a long, long time to get comfortable and to execute a game plan, and he's just not there. It doesn't matter who his coaches are, it's never happening. Never happening."
At UFC 309, Bo Nickal chose to engage in a three-round striking battle with Paul Craig—a strategy that, despite earning him the win, drew heavy criticism from both analysts and fans. Brendan Schaub believes it’s time for Nickal’s coaching staff to overhaul his approach and refocus on strategies that play to his strengths.
"So today, they should go, 'Bo, if you’re going to win and have a career in the UFC, you have got to absolutely dominate. So what are we going to work on? Your wrestling, your ground-and-pound, and submissions. F*ck your striking. We're going to do just enough so you don't look like a moron,'" Schaub said. "You've got to become that dominant wrestler like you were at Penn State. But if they tell me, 'Schaub, take it easy, his striking is really good in the gym, we're going to focus on striking, forget about wrestling,' I'll tell you he won't last long.
"If his whole mentality doesn't change and goes, 'OK, I've got to become the Khabib of 185 and absolutely break everybody with my grappling, f*ck striking' ... If his team wants him to last and be a contender, we've got to focus on his grappling and wrestling. That's where he's an outlier. When he's forced to strike – you guys know I love Bo, (but) his striking, I've seen better guys on the regional level, on the Contender Series. It's just not there. That's OK. If this was a video game, his striking is a 1 at the UFC level, and his grappling is at 10. Why the f*ck are we trying to win with the 1?"
