Don’t expect many cheers for Bo Nickal this weekend in “The Hawkeye State.”
The former NCAA Division 1 national champion out of Penn State will look to keep his perfect record intact when he collides with Dutch submission specialist Reinier de Ridder in the UFC Des Moines co-main event this Sat. night (May 3) at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
The anti-Nickal movement appears to be a global phenomenon.
“I get that from every part of the world,” De Ridder told Mike Bohn. “Maybe because he’s a such a prospect or something, but people don’t really seem to like him much. It is what it is. At Kill Cliff, there are a lot of Iowa boys who came here from the wrestling program. They really told me, ‘Go get this guy.’ People just say he rubs [them] the wrong way.”
Maybe it’s all those pre-fight math lessons.
“I believe I have to make this fight, I have to do this,” De Ridder continued. “I have to get close to him. I have to put pressure on him. I have to get into wrestling scrambles. I have to get into the clinch and it doesn’t really matter what he wants to do. I learned a lot from the [Paul Craig] fight, it was a very interesting fight to watch, Craig was doing pretty well.”
Not well enough, losing by unanimous decision at UFC 309.
The 34 year-old De Ridder is already 2-0 inside the Octagon with a pair of slick chokes and now boasts 13 taps in 19 wins. His biggest challenge will be to control the top-heavy Nickal, 29, who finished six of his seven opponents by way of knockout or submission.
To see the rest of the UFC Des Moines fight card and ESPN2 lineup click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
