Bo Nickal is the latest fighter to need a new opponent just days a head of Saturday night’s UFC 290 event in Las Vegas, the centrepiece of the promotion’s ‘International Fight Week’ celebrations in their home city.
Nickal was originally scheduled to fight Tresean Gore in the opening fight of the pay-per-view main card, but his opponent has had to pull out due to a wrist injury.
The UFC are now believed to be seeking alternative options on short-notice for the the much-hyped 27-year-old Nickal, a decorated amateur wrestler who initially came to light in MMA via the Contender Series, where he picked up back-to-back submission wins in a combined time of just 2 minutes.
Nickal then made his UFC debut in March against Jamie Pickett and continued the trend with another first round submission finish.
Despite his success so far Nickal is still only 4-0 overall in his MMA career and the original match-up against Gore, a former TUF 29 finalist with a 4-2 record suggested that the UFC were still treating him as a work-in-progress for now rather than throwing him in with higher profile middleweight opponents.
With that in mind it’ll be interesting to see who they come up with as possible replacements for Gore, with another former Contender Series fighter Caio Borrelho having already signalled his interest if the money’s right as he looks to improve on his current four-fight winning streak.
