Elite wrestler and UFC middleweight competitor Bo Nickal recently opened up about an experience he had in his first BJJ class. It was quite a long time ago now, but it was back when he was still competing in wrestling as his primary sport. Of course, training in Jiu-Jitsu is something that was always going to be necessary for his success in professional MMA. He’s since dived deep into the sport and after putting on a gi for the first time just a few years ago, he’s even promoted to BJJ blue belt as well.
He recently sat down for an episode of the Johnny Drinks podcast and he explained how he got his first exposure to BJJ:
“I was doing a camp in Missouri and I’d finish the camp. And then, this guy that I think had a kid who was I was teaching, was like: “Hey, we’re doing Jiu-Jitsu over here if you want to come and roll and stuff. So it was kind of funny. It [the class] started off, they brought me in with like a white belt, I messed him up. I know, like these basic submissions just from watching MMA. And so like, I submit him and then they’re like, okay. Blue belt [comes in]. And, like, the same thing.”
Bo Nickal is a three-time NCAA champion of course so it makes sense that he’d step onto the mats for his first BJJ class and instantly being a better grappler than any lower belts in the class. He wasn’t content with just that though:
“And then they’re like all right, purple belt. And then it’s, like, kind of competitive. But like, I’m still getting the better of him.”
The sparring didn’t stop there either, as Nickal started sparring with a brown belt immediately after that:
“He’s, like, way bigger than me. And I’m like, whatever. I’m going to wear this dude down. And so I just start pulling on his head. And at first he’s, like, cocky, so he’s trying to stand with me, wrestle me. And I’m like: “No, it ain’t working out.” So I’m pulling his head, messing him up. And then like I got him so tired that he starts pulling guard. Like, he can’t do anything. He’s gassed out, I’m passing his guard. And I didn’t submit him, but I’m working him and stuff like that. And so at this point I’ve been going 45 minutes.”
That makes sense too, seeing as the conditioning required to be come a high-level wrestling competitor is something far outside what you’d expect to find in your average BJJ academy. Bo Nickal isn’t just any high-level wrestler either, so it’s understandable that everyone in his first BJJ class would have a lot of trouble handling him. There was one more person left for Nickal too:
“The instructor, black belt, probably a 50-year-old dude, only guy in the gi. He pulls guard immediately. He locks me down in half-guard and he’s got a gi on. I’m in, like, shorts and T-shirt. So I’m stuck. And so I’m, like – alright, I don’t know what I’m doing. Like, I’m going to try to get my leg out. [But I] can’t get my leg out. He tries to wristlock me a couple times and I, like, freak out. I’m, like: “Get it out [the wrist]”, and I get it done. I don’t tap. And then I just kind of grab his head in his arm and I’m just squeezing, holding him there. And we’ve gone for probably like 10-12 minutes.”
The full interview with Bo Nickal where he details his experience in his first BJJ class was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of JD Podcast Clips:
