Bo Nickal is falling in love with his hands.
The hotshot UFC prospect might be a three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion but that doesn’t stop him from knocking opponents out. Only five fights into his professional career, Nickal has already added two electrifying KO’s to his highlight reel.
Nickal put his opponent to sleep just 33 seconds into his pro debut and his second KO came against Val Woodburn in his sequel Octagon appearance at UFC 290 earlier this month. Just before that, the 27 year old racked up a finish, that time by submission over Jamie Pickett at UFC 285.
Nickal: ‘Knocking Somebody Out Is The Best Feeling In The World’
What does Nickal prefer, though? A tap-out or a knockout? The answer is clear for the undefeated fighter.
“I’ll be a hundred percent honest. I’m a wrestler through and through. Knocking somebody out is the best feeling in the world, you can’t compare,” Nickal said on ‘Believe You Me’. “It’s incredible, really. When you put the guy out, it’s over. They’re on the ground, you get up. It’s just, it’s unbelievable. Even pinning a guy in wrestling, whatever it is, it doesn’t compare.”
‘Fighting Smart’
While the feeling of knocking somebody out is unreal, Nickal knows he shouldn’t chase that feeling above all else because if he’s not too careful, he could find himself on the receiving end of a knockout.
“I just want to continue to be wise to that and know that I can’t let that like, overcome everything else that goes into a fight,” Nickal explained. “I’m still gonna be fighting smart. I’m still gonna train a certain way. Yeah, it’s the best feeling ever. But it’s emotional.”
Nickal Wants To Continue His Training Before Eventual Comeback
Nickal has been very active recently, having fought five times in a little more than a year. But, that pace may change as Nickal wouldn’t mind taking a moment to catch his breath.
“There are a lot of options for me,” Nickal said regarding his future. “As a competitor, I would love to fight again as soon as possible. But then when I take a step back and I look at my career and the trajectory that I’m headed on and how the last years went, and just kind of assess everything from, trying to be unbiased and not emotional because at the end of the day, my favorite thing to do is go out and compete in front of 20,000 people in on a pay-per-view. That’s the most exciting part of what I get to do. But, there’s also an analytical side of what’s the best move for my career.
“I’m barely 13 months into being a professional. I fought five times the last 13 months. I wanna continue to develop my skills and improve and get better and a lot of that happens in training. When I trained this last year, I’ve really just been in training camp. Training camp is a different animal than just training and working on your skills and, and being creative, that type of thing.”
Timeframe For Return
It might be a short while until we see Nickal back in the Octagon.
“I could see myself fighting in December,” Nickal revealed. “I could also see myself taking a little more time off, you know, maybe six, eight months and just training, improving, getting better and fighting early next year.
“So that’s stuff that I’ll continue to console my coaches on, console my management team and see what’s best for me. I’m not in a rush. I’ll get the belt when the time comes and when I’m ready to do it. I see myself fighting three, four more times fighting ranked guys. I’m probably not gonna have to fight 10 ranked guys to get to the belt. I’m probably gonna be able to fight a guy in the top 15, fight a guy in the top five, maybe one more guy to get to the title. There’s a lot of what if’s, but I’m just trying to map it out as best I can.”
We’ll see how it all plays out for the highly-touted Bo Nickal in due time.
