After defeating Jacob Cardenas by decision in his RAF debut, he returned to the legendary UFC Octagon in November. At Madison Square Garden, he finished Rodolfo Viera (11-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) with a head kick in the third and final round of the UFC 322 prelim.
From there, Bo Nickal would return to the RAF mats in late December, but his match against Yoel Romero was scrapped due to Nickal withdrawing from the event. Said match was rebooked this past week at RAF 05 in Sunrise, FL. Although Nickal came in at 205 lbs for his light heavyweight match, Romero clocked in 7 lbs more and Nickal refused to take the match.
Bo Nickal elevated to RAF Light Heavyweight Champion
Instead of Yoel Romero’s weight loss At the morning weigh-ins on Saturday prior to RAF 05 in Sunrise, Florida, RAF officials declared Bo Nickal the promotion’s light heavyweight champion. Romero had a match this weekend at RAF 05, Stephen Buchanan.
Buchanan’s match against Yoel Romero was a win, winning 10-0 by technical fall. After Yoel Romero lost weight and Bo Nickal was named RAF Light Heavyweight Champion, he resigned.
Nickals decides to withdraw from the competition at RAF 05 with hours to go until the card resulted in controversy from wrestling fans everywhere.
“I’m really bummed, but Yoel couldn’t make weight,” Bo Nickal said in an interview Instagram post on Saturday. “He weighed 212 pounds, so 7 pounds over what the agreed weight class was, which is a shame. If he had been within striking distance, even a few pounds [over,] We could have made it happen, but seven pounds is a lot to give up at this level.”
Bo Nickal opens after canceled match Ariel Helwani show Interview
As the new week started Monday, Nickal, who is 8-1 in MMA with a 5-1 record in the UFC, said made an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. During the interview, he took the audience through his morning at the weigh-ins.
“It was difficult, it was a difficult situation,” he began. “I got there in Florida, had all my family, friends and a lot of people and was looking forward to competing. Saturday morning at the weigh-in I weighed in at exactly 9:00 am. I woke up around 203, ate and drank to get to 205 and then waited about 45 minutes for Yoel to arrive [the] roads and go there. He waited a while, so when he didn’t step on the scale right away, I knew it might be over.
“I expected two, three, four pounds and don’t worry, we’ll get it done,” he continued. “He got in at 212.”
Reason behind Bo Nickal’s decision
After consulting with his team, Bo Nickal chose not to accept the RAF match with Yoel Romero. He decided not to go through with the match out of appreciation for the wrestling.
“Part of wrestling is making weight,” he said. “That’s just something you grow up with and it’s just part of the sport. In every other tournament it’s not like, ‘Oh, you don’t make weight, you can still participate.’ It’s not part of the sport like MMA, it’s very common in MMA.”
Later in the interview, he discussed his friends and colleagues’ reaction to the cancellation.
“The reaction from all my wrestling peers is that they were shocked,” Bo Nickal said. They were shocked that I was even considering taking it because it took me a few hours to actually figure it out and everyone I talked to, coaches, teammates, said, ‘It’s part of the sport and you don’t gain weight, you don’t wrestle.’
Nickal sends a message to the general public
Bo Nickal also took time to address the critics who blasted him for withdrawing from the competition this weekend.
“Obviously people want to see me compete,” he said. “I do that too, but they don’t understand what it’s like to be in that position. This isn’t all fun and games. This isn’t a charity match. This is a professional sporting event, so I turned pro and unfortunately he didn’t.”
Final thoughts
Bo Nickal’s decision to refuse to wrestle at RAF 05 and his explanation of why he did so shows that there is something in combat sports that is often thought to be in short supply: integrity. By refusing to compete in the match with Romero, he sent a message to the rest of his division in Real American Freestyle.
The message is loud and clear: “If you make weight, we’ll meet on the mat. If not, go wrestle someone else. Luckily for Yoel Romero, he was booked to fight Stephen Buchanan on Saturday night, but unfortunately he fell in defeat.”
Bo Nickal won in bigger fashion on Saturday night. His victory came in a way that can’t be scored in a match, where he basically wins.
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