Bo Nickal appears to be taking his first professional loss in stride, but he also has a nasty message for anyone enjoying his setback.
Nickal (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) suffered the first loss of his MMA career at UFC on ESPN 67 when Reinier de Ridder finshed him in the second round after a series of hard strikes in the second round. The wrestling talent didnāt have much to offer de Ridder outside of grappling and appeared a few levels behind in the striking department.
Nickal says he hasnāt watched the fight in full yet because he has a pretty clear recollection of what went down, including returning to his stool after Round 1 thinking the fight wasnāt going in his direction.
āIāll watch that fight back at some point, but I look at it as just a blueprint of what not to do,ā Nickal said on his YouTube channel. āSo, thatās a massive plus because I canāt look at it and say like, āWell, I did everything I could and he got me.ā It was like ā I did in my effort-wise, but the mistakes that I made were just so obvious to me. Fixable, obvious mistakes. And I think heās a great guy, heās a great opponent, so he forced me into those mistakes, and I didnāt correct, or I didnāt adjust. Thatās what you have to do if you want to be the best in the world.ā
Nickalās hype as a national champion wrestler led him to become a massive betting favorite in his MMA fights, and until the fight against de Ridder, he proved the oddsmakers correct. He started out his UFC career with back-to-back first-round finishes, followed by a second-round stoppage win. However, the competiton started to get stiffer, and he would go the distance with Paul Craig in his fourth UFC fight. Then the first career loss came against de Ridder, a former two-division champion under the ONE Championship banner.
For the fans that donāt relate and would rather send him hate, Nickal didnāt mince words.
āAll the negative, for me, I look at that and all I say is just like, suck my d*ck,ā Nickal said. "At the end of the day, say what you want. But when I get back on top and Iām the freaking champion of the world, you all will come crawling back. They always do. And Iāll spit right in your face.
āā¦ Thatās how Iāll treat you guys. And every single one of you that says a bad thing, I have the memory of an elephant.ā
āI never wanted to be an undefeated UFC champion,ā Nickal stated. āI never said that. You can go look back and clip out interviews and stuff like that. My goal has never been to be undefeated. I was totally aware that losses were very, very possible and likely. ā¦ The goal isnāt any different. I just want to continue to get better and improve. I want to find out how good I can be, and really itās leaning on Godās plan for me more so than my own.ā
Now that the zero is gone from his loss column, Nickal can continue to proceed without the pressure of maintaining an unblemished record. He said he doesnāt intend to be a fighter who loses more than he wins, but being someone who has experienced losses and bounced back from them is something fans can relate to more than an undefeated champion.
Bo Nickal initially kept a composed demeanor after the bout. But in a video posted to his personal YouTube channel, the former collegiate wrestling champion unleashed a raw and unfiltered message directed at critics. The clip, which was widely circulated and shared by Spinnin Backfist, featured Nickal saying: āAll the negative comments, I look at that and all I say is just like, suck my d**k,ā Nickal said. āAt the end of the day, say what you want, but when I get back on top and when Iām the freaking champion of the world, theyāre all crawling back! And I will spit right in your face. As soon as you crawl back and you know, āBo, come give me an interview,ā blah blah blah. Where were you? Where were you? And guess what Iām gonna say? āOkay, come over here.ā spits Right between the eyes. And thatās how Iāll treat you guys.ā
The fact that he lets anyone get in his head bad enough to address it publicly is pretty weak