Bo Nickal has just revealed that he intends to turn his focus to Jiu-Jitsu competition after he eventually retires from MMA. It’s hardly surprising seeing as he’s already competed in multiple different combat sports in his career and his elite wrestling would likely see him to some success in Jiu-Jitsu. Nickal has actually already had a fair amount of experience in the sport, including his famous match with Gordon Ryan back in 2019. That was the first Jiu-Jitsu match he ever had and although it was under a non-standard ruleset, facing one of the greatest competitors in the sport was a huge challenge.
Nickal unsurprisingly lost that match and went back to wrestling for a few years, before eventually making his MMA debut in 2021. Although he was focused on reaching the highest level of the sport, working on his Jiu-Jitsu was a big part of that journey and he even put on a gi to develop his submission skills. He worked hard to add those new weapons to his arsenal and has become an even more fearsome grappler, with Nickal being promoted to blue belt in BJJ the same year that he made his MMA debut. With the ability to take people down, hold them down, and now submit them too; Nickal has quickly become one of the best grapplers in MMA.
He took a short detour to compete in a few more Jiu-Jitsu matches at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 2 but other than that, he’s spent all of his time progressing in MMA instead. It’s paid off in a big way of course, as Nickal has since earned a UFC contract. He has continued his winning ways too, building up an impressive 6-0 professional record with three finishes in the UFC so far. In a recent interview with Demetrious Johnson, Bo Nickal revealed that he’d like to return to Jiu-Jitsu competition once he’s retired from MMA:
“I’m gonna go till I feel like I’ve done what I needed to do in this sport and then we’ll move on and I’ll probably do the same thing as you, I’ll start competing in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments because I love it and it’s so fun for me.”
Nickal actually put himself forward for the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational earlier this year, so it’s not too surprising to hear that he’s interested in more Jiu-Jitsu matches. That was a little different though of course, as a million-dollar prize is enough to attract anyone’s attention. Although the rewards will obviously be smaller at any other event he chooses to compete in, there will still be plenty of tough opposition out there for Nickal to face when he does return to Jiu-Jitsu.
The full interview with Bo Nickal where he reveals his intention to compete in Jiu-Jitsu after his MMA career was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Demetrious Johnson:
