Bo Nickal
Bo Dean Nickal is an American professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler, and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He also competes in the Light Heavyweight division of Real American Freestyle, where he is the current RAF Light Heavyweight Champion.
In freestyle wrestling, he claimed the 2019 U23 World Championship and the US Open national championship, and was a finalist at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials and a Final X contestant in 2019. As a collegiate wrestler, Nickal was a three-time NCAA Division I national champion and a three-time Big Ten Conference champion out of Pennsylvania State University.
Considered one of the most accomplished Nittany Lions of all time, Nickal earned the 2019 Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's most outstanding collegiate wrestler, was a two-time Schalles Award winner as the nation's best pinner and was also named the 2019 Big Ten Athlete of the Year.
Wrestling career
Background and high school
Nickal was born in Rifle, Colorado, but moved to Wyoming at a young age, where he started wrestling around five or six years old. In fifth grade, he moved to Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Nickal made the varsity high school team while in eighth grade and placed second at the New Mexico state tournament that same season.As a high school freshman, he moved once again, now to Allen High School in Allen, Texas. He placed second at the Texas state tournament his freshman year, and then won every state tournament he competed in from his sophomore-year onward, becoming a three-time Texas state champion. As a junior, he placed fifth at the 2013 U17 World Championships in freestyle. After finishing his junior year, Nickal committed to wrestle as a Nittany Lion at the Pennsylvania State University. He graduated from high school with a 183–7 record, including 131 pins, and was the pound-for-pound ninth-ranked wrestler in the nation.
Pennsylvania State University
2014–2015
Nickal opted to compete under a redshirt during his first collegiate year, compiling a 15–2 record in open tournaments while wrestling unattached at 174 pounds.2015–2016
Entering his freshman season ranked fourteenth in the country, Nickal won his first eighteen matches, claiming titles from the Nittany Lion Open and the Southern Scuffle and notable victories over returning NCAA runner-up Brian Realbuto, multiple DI All-Americans in Zach Epperly, Bryce Hammond and Ethan Ramos, and future NCAA champion Myles Martin. In his nineteenth match, Nickal, now the top-ranked 174-pounder in the country, was defeated by Nate Jackson on points, ending his streak. Afterwards, Nickal bounced back with eight straight wins, including another one over Martin, to finish the regular season with a record of 26–1. At the Big Ten Conference Championships, Nickal claimed three bonus point-victories, including a fall over Martin and a major over Zac Brunson in the finale. Nickal entered the NCAA's as the top-seed, defeating his first three opponents to make the semifinals, where he avenged his regular season loss to Nate Jackson on points, advancing to the finals. In the finals, Nickal faced the eleventh seed in Myles Martin, whom he had already defeated three times earlier, but was defeated by the opposition in a close and frenetic upset, claiming runner-up honors.Nickal then went up to 86 kilograms for the 2016 US Last Chance World Trials Qualifier in April, where he placed fourth after recording a 5–2 record. He then attempted to make the 2016 U20 US World Team, but was stopped by Zahid Valencia.
2016–2017
As a sophomore, Nickal moved up to the 184 pounds division. During his unbeaten regular season, Nickal pinned his way to the Keystone Classic title and went 14–0 in dual meets, dominantly avenging his NCAA championship loss to Myles Martin, and also including wins over returning NCAA runner-up TJ Dudley and returning All-Americans Sammy Brooks and Nolan Boyd. In the postseason, Nickal was upset in the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships by rival Myles Martin, but came back to place third, beating TJ Dudley for the second time. At the NCAA's, Nickal got a technical fall in the first round and three straight falls to make his second finals, notably pinning Dudley and Sammy Brooks. In the finale, Nickal faced undefeated-in-the-season and defending two-time NCAA champion Gabe Dean, whom he was able to edge by a point, claiming his first NCAA title and denying Dean his third.Fresh off his first collegiate championship, Nickal went back up to 86 kilos to place fourth at the US Freestyle Open, going 4–2.
2017–2018
As a junior, Nickal compiled 23 wins and no losses during regular season, with 21 bonus–point victories, claimed multiple tournament titles and wins over the likes of Domenic Abounader and his nemesis Myles Martin. At the Big Ten Championships, Nickal claimed his second title by beating Martin in the finale, advancing to the NCAAs as the favorite top–seed. At the National tournament, he earned notable wins over '16 MAC champion Jordan Ellingwood, freshman phenom from Cornell Max Dean and Michigan's Domenic Abounader to make the finale, where he scored one of his signature pins in his career over Myles Martin, ending the rivalry, claiming his second NCAA title and clinching the team title for PSU. Due to his dominance, he was awarded the NCAA Championship Outstanding Wrestler award and the prestigious Schalles Award as the nation's top pinner.2018–2019
As a redshirt senior, Nickal moved up once again to 197 pounds. At this new weight class, he comfortably won the Big Ten Conference Championship for the second time consecutively and third time overall. At his last NCAA tournament, he dominated all three matches to get to the final, pinning his first two opponents and getting a major in the semifinals. In the finals, Nickal defeated the second seeded Kollin Moore by points to claim the NCAA title, becoming one of the four Penn State wrestlers to win three NCAA National Championships and the third one to be a four-time NCAA Finalist. At the end of the season, he was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy as nation's best college wrestler and the Schalles Award as US' top pinner. He was also named 2019 Co-Big Ten wrestler of the Year, Penn State Male Athlete of the Year, and Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year.Freestyle career
2019
Once his final run in collegiate wrestling was over, Nickal immediately turned his focus solely to freestyle. Going back to the style after two years, Nickal competed at the US Open, bulking up to 92 kilograms instead of going down to 86 kilos due to teammate David Taylor being the returning World Champion in the weight class. He walked through his competition, stopping five opponents and earning the championship.After winning the US Open, Nickal automatically advanced to the finals of the US World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, in which he faced Michael Macchiavello in a best-of-three rematch. He dominated the first match winning by technical fall and in the second match he would outscore his opponent 5–0, without letting him to score a point in either match.
Nickal wrestled in two straight matches against returning World Champion J'den Cox for the spot to represent the United States at the 2019 World Championships. In the first match, he was outscored 2–4 and wasn't able to score offensively, and in the second, he wasn't able to score a single point, while Cox scored 5 of his own, losing the series.
As a 23-year old Final X contestant, Nickal had the right to compete at the US U23 World Team Trials against the Challenge Tournament winner, Jakob Woodley. The special wrestle-offs took place during the Fargo Nationals. Nickal dominated 12–4 in the first match and 8–2 in the second match, earning the right to represent United States at the U23 World Championships.
At the U23 World Championships, Nickal defeated three opponents including Shamil Zubairov, the returning champion, to get to the finals, where he faced 2018 Russian National champion Batyrbek Tsakulov. Nickal was able to avenge his loss with a 12–2 technical fall victory to earn the championship.
2020
By the start of 2020, Nickal moved up to 97 kilograms in an attempt to take out reigning Olympic Gold medalist Kyle Snyder. He effortlessly passed the first round by technical fall before facing Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian, who would nullify Nickal to a 0–10 technical fall, marking the first time he had been defeated in such fashion in freestyle or college. In the consolation bracket, he would also have a tough time, as he had a close match with Alisher Yergali in which he was down 11–12 but was able to secure a last second takedown and earn a 13–12 point-victory. Next in the bracket was Kyle Snyder, however, Nickal did not appear on the mat, forcing the match to be ruled as a forfeit victory for Snyder and also eliminating Nickal from the tournament, placing seventh.As a 2019 U23 World Champion, Nickal qualified for the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials. He was scheduled to compete at the event on April, however, it was postponed for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic along with the 2020 Summer Olympics. As a champion at a non-olympic weight, Nickal was supposed to decide whether he was going to compete at 86 or 97 kilograms, but this decision never became public as the events were postponed. On September 21, he announced that he would compete at 86 kilograms in 2021.
Nickal returned to the mats against Alex Dieringer on September 19, at the NLWC I, making his debut at 86 kilograms since completely crossing over. Dieringer scored the first point via push-out early in the first period, however, he was put on the shot-clock due to passivity with 1 minute and 30 seconds left on the match. Nickal tied it up after defending the attacks of his opponent, earning a point and therefore the criteria as the last one to do so. He was able to earn the victory via criteria after neither of them were able to score more points. Nickal was later scheduled to wrestle 2020 US National runner-up Nate Jackson on November 24, at the NLWC III, but was removed from the card a day before the event.