Paul Felder thinks Bo Nickal needs to show more urgency at UFC on ESPN 67.
Nickal (7-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) meets former ONE dual-champion Reinier de Ridder (19-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in Saturday’s co-main event (ESPN2, ESPN+) at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
The wrestling standout is coming off a lackluster unanimous decision win over Paul Craig at UFC 309, going the distance for the first time in his career. He opted to outpoint Craig to avoid his dangerous ground game, but Felder wants to see Nickal play to his strengths, especially as he climbs the middleweight ladder.
“Both guys have a lot to prove here. I feel like more so on Bo Nickal’s side, believe it or not,” Felder told ESPN. “Because in that Paul Craig fight, he went out there, there was a lot of eyeballs, a lot of hype on this kid, and he just never pulled the trigger. It happens. It’s how you bounce back from that type of performance.
“Granted, got the win, but we want to see more from him. This is a kid we’ve been talking could be a future champion down the line so, you got to go out there, you got to be aggressive. I don’t care if it’s with the striking or the wrestling, but I think he’s really got to commit in this one.”
With 13 submissions on his record, De Ridder also presents a dangerous grappling game. However, Felder says Nickal can’t be afraid to go to the ground with him.
“I want to see him against somebody like De Ridder use his wrestling, believe it or not,” Felder said. “He’s got great jiu-jitsu, he’s got knockout power, but I think when you’ve got that Penn State wrestling behind you and all the hype behind you, we want to see that. I want to see you show that elite wrestling inside of that cage, and you can’t not wrestle because guys have good jiu-jitsu or guys have a submission threat.
“When you’re getting to this level, you’ve got to prove that my wrestling and my jiu-jitsu can nullify all of that. Or I want to see him go out there – De Ridder has shown that he’s not the best striker. He does enough to get the job done, but it’s really when it hits the floor that he does his best work, but if he could go out there against De Ridder and challenge him on the mat or be aggressive on the feet. He’s shown that he’s got the ability and explosiveness to knock guys out. We got to see one or the other from him.”
