Bo Nickal’s head coach at American Top Team, Mike Thomas Brown, believes a lack of experience led to his pupil’s first professional mixed martial arts loss.
Nickal (7-1) faced a massive step up in competition when he took on Reinier de Ridder in the UFC Des Moines co-main event. While Nickal was a sizeable favorite going in, de Ridder scored a massive upset with knees to the body in the second round. This ended Nickal’s seven-fight winning streak, which included six finishes.
Brown revealed that they always had concerns going up against elite competition like De Ridder, a former two-division One Championship king.