Bo Nickal, an accomplished wrestler, is touted as one of the upcoming stars of the UFC Middleweight division. His road to the UFC was not a smooth run. It involved a freak accident before he made a name for himself in the company. However, he credited an athletic trainer for the current trajectory of his career.
On the JRE MMA Show #151, hosted by Joe Rogan, Nickal explained how he took up MMA in 2021. He contacted the UFC and they offered him a fight at Dana White’s Contender Series. After picking up a first-round submission win against Zachary Borrego in August 2022, he was set to fight again in September.
However, just 10 days before his fight against Donovan Beard at Dana White’s Contender Series 56, the former wrestler met with a freak accident. He explained how he used to live close to his gym and traveled to and fro on a onewheel. On this particular day, he did not want the cars behind to slow down so he increased his speed to 23 mph. An accident was likely to happen.
Nickal said, “So, I’m leaning forward and I catch the nose, on the tip of the nose, on the asphalt and I slam into the ground and roll… My shoes, wallet, everything’s flying in the air. I hit and rolled and I just was like ‘get off the road, you’re going to get hit by a car.’ So, I popped up, grabbed my stuff and got off the road.”
At the time of the accident, he did not feel too much pain. However, a few hours later, he realized the severity of it. Upon getting an X-ray, Nickal found out he suffered a broken shoulder and a separated SC (sternoclavicular) joint just 10 days before his fight.
Bo Nickal managed a first-round submission win just 10 days after breaking his collarbone
After the discovery, Nickal visited an athletic trainer at Penn State. The trainer had worked with the wrestling team for 30 years. According to Nickal, “He’s like a magician, he’s amazing… He’s more like Eastern philosophy guy. So, we’re moving energy through it and doing a few different things and um I started to feel a little better.”
Bo Nickal’s (@NoBickal) submission of Donovan Beard in under 1 minute last night 🔥#MMATwitter #DWCS #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/IEugpg96wn
— FIGHT KNIGHT 🥊⚔️ (@fightknightkod) September 28, 2022
He felt good enough to not pull out of his match against Beard in Las Vegas on September 27, 2022. Moreover, Nickal went there and pulled off a dominant win. He made Beard submit to a triangle choke within 52 seconds.
Further on the JRE episode, Nickal joked, “Moral of the story: I don’t ride the onewheel anymore.”
UFC 300 ANNOUNCEMENT!
Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage
April 13th | Las Vegas | 185 Lbs pic.twitter.com/SHMRZUSnAH— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) December 22, 2023
Since then, Nickal defeated Jamie Pickett via first-round submission at UFC 285 and also got the better of Valentine Woodburn via first-round TKO at UFC 290. Next up for Nickal is Cody Brundage on April 13, 2024, at UFC 300.