Bo Nickal was treated to a loud and relentless chorus of boos from the fans despite winning a unanimous decision victory over Paul Craig last at UFC 309 last year. But why did the crowd boo the undefeated phenom despite his victory? Well, because the former three-time D1 NCAA champ had what can only be described as an amateur kickboxing match with the veteran, seemingly too scared to take the fight to the ground, despite being one of the best wrestlers in the sport. The undefeated prospect did not even attempt a single takedown in the three rounds. And in further worrying news for the UFC fans, the rising 185-pounder is apparently preparing to repeat his mistake in his upcoming fight.

Nickal is set to face former two-division ONE Championship champion and world-class grappler, Reinier de Ridder, at UFC Des Moines on May 3. And talking about the fight on his official YouTube channel, Nickal indicated that he may want to keep this fight on the feet, too. “There’s a chance, you know. There’s a chance I shouldn’t take down this fight, but I don’t know, I’m kind of turning into a striker, so we’ll see,” Nickal said.

This prompted the cameraman to interject and point out that the undefeated middleweight was indeed working on his striking, especially his kicks in practice. “I was going to say, dude, you’re throwing a lot of kicks now. I didn’t think that I’d ever see the day,” he said. “Yeah, I’m working on it, you know. It’s, you know, developing, getting better. I think I’m a natural striker, so yeah. The overhand’s there, without a doubt, there’s no doubt about that,” Nickal added.

All of which fans will find head-scratching. What does Nickal even mean? Is he a natural striker? There certainly wasn’t any evidence of it at the Craig fight, where his striking didn’t seem anything special. Certainly not even in the same league as elite strikers of the caliber of, say, an Israel Adesanya, or an Alex Pereira, or a Max Holloway.

But then again, it seems Nickal is mulling striking with the Dutch former ONE champion for the same reason he didn’t grappler with Paul Craig, because taking the fight to the ground could be risky. Craig, a BJJ black belt, is a dangerous grappler, and Nickal chose to play it safe at UFC 309 by keeping the fight a stand-up affair.

And de Ridder is clearly an even better grappler than Craig, which is perhaps why the former NCAA wrestling champ is talking about not taking him down either in their upcoming clash. But perhaps he should listen to one of his biggest cheerleaders, who had some tough but fair advice for him after the UFC 309 debacle.

Chael Sonnen excoriated Bo Nickal for refusing to grapple with Paul Craig at UFC 309

“My problem with it and my gripe is that you have a four-time world champion. … Doesn’t do one damn bit of wrestling because somebody got a hold of him. One of his trainers or his training partners sat him down and said, ‘You’re not ready to go to the ground with the guy.’ Well, how the F would we know? How in the F we would know that now? Sonnen, who is a big Bo Nickal fan, said on his YouTube channel after UFC 309 last year.

“You do not look at your opponent’s game to decide your strategy… And he refuses to take down. A four-time world champion refuses to use one bit of wrestling against a guy that’s never had a wrestling match. That is because of somebody in his trusted inner circle,” ‘Uncle Chael’ added.

Indeed, as Sonnen pointed out in the video, you can’t imagine an all-time great like, say, Khabib Nurmagomedov ever worrying about how much of a threat his opponent may be on the ground, and therefore being reluctant to take the fight on the ground. No, he was confident enough in his abilities to fight according to his strengths. And if Nickal wants to be the very best in the world, according to Sonnen, he needs to learn from the very best.

Not to mention, Nickal’s aforementioned comments ahead of the de Ridder fight also make it clear that it isn’t the undefeated phenom’s coaches necessarily that want him to strike more. That is a decision he has made for himself! But to be fair to Nickal, we don’t know if he will indeed go into the de Ridder fight with a striking-first game plan.

Maybe he is bluffing and trying to blindside de Ridder by indicating he will strike with him, only to come out of the gate hot and look for a takedown. Or maybe Nickal will try to keep the fight on the feet, which is probably not going to go down well with the fans at all. What do you think about Bo Nickal’s comments about striking ahead of the de Ridder clash?