Bo Nickal is set to debut at December’s UFC 282 event.
It didn’t take long, actually only 2 days after receiving a UFC contract, that Dana White got the 26 year old a debut fight.
It will be Bo Nickal (3-0 MMA) vs Jamie Pickett (13-8 MMA) in a middleweight bout on Saturday, December 10th, 2022 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Nickal has 3 wins to his record in his pro MMA career, all three victories were first round finishes. The Pennsylvanian will be looking for a win in his 1st official UFC fight.
It was at Dana White’s Contender Series 2022: Week 10 that Nickal had a dominating win over Donovan Beard (7-2 MMA) just 52 seconds into the fight, earning him a UFC contract.
Pickett, 34, is on a two-fight skid, losing to Kyle Daukaus (11-3 MMA) in February of this year and Denis Tiuliulin (10-6 MMA) at UFC 279 earlier this month.
After his victory over Beard, Nickal spoke to ESPN, and called out Khamzat Chimaev (12-0 MMA) saying:
“If the UFC wishes, give me that Swedish dude (Chimaev). He might not even be the best guy, because he can’t even make weight, but if that’s the case, I’ll take him. I feel like that’s a good matchup for me. He’s obviously a high-level grappler, high-level fighter. He’s one of the top fighters not only in his division, but in the UFC. I have a lot of respect for his skills but I also know what I’m about.”
However, Dana White made it clear that his new found talent will have to come in to his own by working his way up in the rankings saying:
“You don’t test him (Nickal) against ranked talent. You bring him in just like you’d bring in any prospect. You build him up and give him fights. The problem is, there are no easy fights here. This isn’t like the boxing model. But he walked into a show where there is no easy fights. Everybody here are killers. If you perform the way that you performed here twice… There are some guys that come in here and it’s a rough go. There are wars to squeak off a win or pull off a win or whatever. This guy came in and dominated twice.”
Will you be watching UFC 282 this December? Are your looking forward to seeing Bo Nickal make his debut against Jamie Pickett?
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