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Former Penn State Wrestlers - MMA Videos/News

I see no reason whatsoever to rush him.

Transition him into bouts with better and better strikers. It's hard to get that experience in the gym.

He needs to learn to fight out of a few bad situations, dig deep and win, which I think he will do.

It's not good for anyone if they toss Bo in with a top 3 guy too soon and he gets taken out. Sure he will come back from a loss I am sure, but imagine the gate if a year or so from now he gets a title shot with a 10-0 resume and some big names on the most recent post of his hit list.
 
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I see no reason whatsoever to rush him.

Transition him into bouts with better and better strikers. It's hard to get that experience in the gym.

He needs to learn to fight out of a few bad situations, dig deep and win, which I think he will do.

It's not good for anyone if they toss Bo in with a top 3 guy too soon and he gets taken out. Sure he will come back from a loss I am sure, but imagine the gate if a year or so from now he gets a title shot with a 15-0 resume and some big names on the most recent post of his hit list.

He won't be getting a Title shot in a year at 15-0 as a Pro. Even aggressively, he would only be able to fight 5-6 times at most.

I would give it an 18-24 month timeframe. While I think he can easily bang out wins against anyone not in the T20, they are going to slow play him. Lambert, ATT et al. aren't dumb. Let Izzy and Bobby Knuckles age out two more years and then Bo can earn the belt and set him up with a superfight against Chimaev.

Reality is we don't have any idea how his striking looks. I also don't agree with Bo's personal assessment that he's a BJJ wizard. While grappling is grappling, there are still a ton of intricacies of BJJ he needs to learn.
 
Bo Nickal is One Bad Man! He talks about, when in High School, he would be at a wrestling tournament and after it was over, him and the other kids would separate off, away from adults, and fight each other for fun.

 
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He won't be getting a Title shot in a year at 15-0 as a Pro. Even aggressively, he would only be able to fight 5-6 times at most.

I would give it an 18-24 month timeframe. While I think he can easily bang out wins against anyone not in the T20, they are going to slow play him. Lambert, ATT et al. aren't dumb. Let Izzy and Bobby Knuckles age out two more years and then Bo can earn the belt and set him up with a superfight against Chimaev.

Reality is we don't have any idea how his striking looks. I also don't agree with Bo's personal assessment that he's a BJJ wizard. While grappling is grappling, there are still a ton of intricacies of BJJ he needs to learn.
as long as he keeps knocking guys out or end the match in the first no reason for him to not go up in the rankings quickly!
 
MMA doesn't want to rush him out against a stud striker for sure.

I think he needs to get to #10-20 guys pretty soon, so that he can get knocked around a bit to identify development areas and adjust his training and prep accordingly.

1st period KOs and submissions are great for his confidence, but if anything might be a detriment to his overall development. All of these guys are too far below his level.

I don't see him getting a top 5-10 fight in the next 12-18 months but there are plenty of guys at the next tier he needs to get exposed to soon. I really hope his next fight is a well seasoned hard core #15ish guy that can at least push him into a 3rd round. I think anyone below top 20 won't push him into more than the 2nd, which is great for the hype, but lacking for bringing him along.

I really don't want to see him against an 'elite' striker for 3-4 more bouts. He needs skilled grinders that can push him to call upon all of his skills in a match. I will get no joy watching Bo taking a right cross to the temple, but he has to get there so that he can validate what he can take. You definitely don't want him rocked for the very first time in a title bout.

The parade of guys he has been cutting through like a hot knife through butter are almost (almost) a waste of time, training and his prime years (27 1/2).

It's looking to me like the earliest he will get a title bout assuming he just keeps winning is when he is 29-30 years old, not optimal IMO.
 
apparently they make bo nickal cards now, and the most rare one is worth $5,000+

 
Bisping Interviews Bo Nickal

Great Interview, Bo talks about his strategy, for his last fight and his approach to fighting, in general.

 
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