At UFC Des Moines, Bo Nickal’s perfect record was shattered as Reinier de Ridder silenced the Iowa crowd with a stunning finish. The three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion aimed to dominate the Dutchman on the ground, eyeing a submission victory. But de Ridder flipped the script—rocking Nickal and scoring a knockout in the second round. The loss hit hard, and now, with doubts swirling, Nickal is being urged to consider a move to a new division.

After the defeat, social media was flooded with reactions from the fans who were critical of Nickal’s performance. One of those was from Aljamain Sterling who claimed he was right about the Penn State wrestler being too small for the middleweight division: “I hate that I was right but the size disparity for Nickal at 185 is very apparent.” 

However, Funkmaster’s statement faced some pushback, as one fan pointed out that Nickal has been competing above the welterweight division since his 20s, and it has been a decade since he last fought at welterweight. Responding to this, Sterling narrated his own story, “I wrestled 133 then 141. Somehow, I magically was able to make 135. Bonus a middleweight but the top 15 MWs are noticeably bigger than him in the cage. Even [Cody] Brundage looked bigger.”

UFC analyst Alan Jouban agreed with Sterling’s statement, as according to him middleweight division is too big for Bo Nickal. In the end, Sterling expressed, “Anyone saying otherwise needs to really have their eyes checked. I’m a huge wrestling and Nickal fan, but that conversation needs to be had and it’s not an easy choice by any means.”

De Ridder made headlines when he fought Kevin Holland, weighing 212 lbs at UFC 311. That was a staggering 22 lbs difference! Nickal seemed to have anticipated this, as he was 36 lbs over the middleweight limit just days before the event. However, the drastic weight cut may have backfired and cost him in the cage. Even if you take the weight into consideration, de Ridder is a towering figure at 6’4″ against a 6’1″ Nickal. Israel Adesanya is 6’4″, Khamzat Chimaev is 6’2″, Nassourdine Imavov is 6’3″, and champion Dricus Du Plessis can look Nickal in the eye at an even 6’1″ height. What does this mean?

The middleweight division is stacked with monsters who are much bigger than they seem. Khamzat Chimaev, Dricus Du Plessis, and Israel Adesanya are just a few of the towering beasts in the mix, and if Nickal is shivering in front of de Ridder, then he should seriously sit back with his team and think about his future in the middleweight division. He may not have to leave the division, but rather take a leaf out of Jon Jones’ book and take some time to put some muscle on. Well, Sterling is not the only one who thinks that Nickal should introspect after this setback.

Ex-UFC fighter believes Bo Nickal should look back at his career

Bo Nickal was one of the biggest middleweight prospects when he was introduced to the UFC; however, after his battle against Paul Craig, his aura took a hit, and his UFC Des Moines battle against de Ridder has completely shut down his middleweight championship hopes. Many believe that Nickal has been fraud-checked, but what’s the truth?

While having a conversation with the media, former UFC vet and keen-eyed analyst, Josh Thomson stated, “Look, I thought RDR fought a great fight. As the millennials will call it, I think Bo Nickal got fraud-checked tonight, and I’m not going to take a dig at him. I’m simply saying that it comes down to he was okay with this fight, he said he wanted this fight. But this is when I think you learn a lot from your experience inside the cage. What you’re doing in the gym it doesn’t always translate to inside the cage.”

The UFC veteran further added, “And tonight it just showed… But you’ve never felt this guy [RDR], you don’t know how good he is, you don’t know how tall he is. Like, you saw him get, you know, hit with some shots by Meerschart, you thought you could hit him. Well, it’s not the same.” 

Bo Nickal indeed looked overwhelmed against the Dutchman, who threw every combination in his arsenal against him, but what shocked everyone was the fact that Nickal didn’t even try to defend himself. Regardless, the former wrestler will have to introspect before it’s too late. With names like Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier walking around at American Top Team, elite striking coaching is not out of reach for the middleweight star. What do you think? State your opinion in the comments below.