Bo Nickal Will Fight Reiner de Ridder At UFC Fight Night 256

Bo Nickal’s next fight will be against Reiner de Ridder at UFC Fight Night 256 in Des Moines, Iowa on May 3rd.

A former wrestling ace, The 29-year-old Nickal became one of the most hyped prospects ever to emerge from the Contender Series in 2022 after earning two submission victories in a combined time of less than two minutes.

Nickal has since gone on to win all four of his UFC fights so far, racking up two more fast finishes against Jamie Pickett and Val Woodburn in 2023, before picking up a second round submission victory against Cody Brundage at UFC 300 in April of last year, and then a unanimous decision victory against Paul Craig in November.

That leaves Nickal with an overall career record of 7-0 so far, but he’s yet to break into the middleweight rankings.

That could change in his upcoming fight however, as the 34-year-old de Ridder is currently ranked No.13 after he burst into the UFC with back-to-back wins in recent months.

De Ridder had previously been a two-division champion in the ONE FC promotion, but subsequently lost both titles before moving onto the UFC.

His UFC debut came last November against an experienced campaigner in Gerald Meerschaert, who he managed to submit in the third round, and he’s since racked up another submission stoppage, this time in the opening round against Kevin Holland at UFC 311 in January.

Nickal vs. de Ridder joins a UFC Fight Night 256 card that will be headlined by a bantamweight fight between Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo.