Latest news with #onESPN67
USA Today
08-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Luke Rockhold: Bo Nickal looked for way out at UFC on ESPN 67, 'really a p*ssy at heart'
Luke Rockhold: Bo Nickal looked for way out at UFC on ESPN 67, 'really a p*ssy at heart' Luke Rockhold thinks rising UFC contender Bo Nickal is not a real fighter. Nickal (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) hasn't received much sympathy from the MMA community after suffering his first-career loss to Reinier de Ridder in Saturday's UFC on ESPN 67 co-main event at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Add former UFC middleweight champion Rockhold to the list of people piling on Nickal. "This kid Bo 'Nicole' is pretty pathetic," Rockhold told Submission Radio. "Talking a big game he was, but he was looking for a way out from the first round on. The kid just needs to shut up. I think Bo just quit like a little b*tch. It was kind of pathetic to see a kid talk all this game. There's such a thing as competitors. Wrestlers can be competitors, but they cannot be fighters all the time. This kid is not a fighter. He's a competitor, and he's really a p*ssy at heart." When asked if he had any advice for Nickal, Rockhold insisted that the standout wrestler doesn't have what it takes to be an elite fighter. "Grow a pair, red-headed step child," Rockhold said. "He doesn't have it. He ain't going to have it. Even if he stuck to wrestling, he doesn't have the wherewithal on the ground to put people away. The degree at the top is different."
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Michael Bisping says Bo Nickal backlash exaggerated: 'People are coming after him so hard'
Michael Bisping says Bo Nickal backlash exaggerated: 'People are coming after him so hard' Michael Bisping believes all the hate toward Bo Nickal is unwarranted. Nickal (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) was finished by Reinier de Ridder in this past Saturday's UFC on ESPN 67 co-main event. The former NCAA Division I champion wrestler has never been short of confidence, resulting in plenty of backlash after he suffered his first-career loss. Bisping thinks the overwhelming reaction by fans has been too much. "Bo Nickal is getting slaughtered online. He's getting so much sh*t," Bisping said on his "Believe You Me" podcast. "We both met Bo Nickal. He's a really nice guy, he's respectful. Of course, he was confident and rightly so given his wrestling credentials, what he has accomplished in one of the toughest sports on the planet. And yeah, when you put yourself out there and you say you're going to do this, that, and the other, and that I'd be a favorite against Khamzat, OK, you're allowed a little bit of backlash, but holy sh*t, people are coming after him so hard." Bisping disagrees with the notion that Nickal has been getting preferential treatment in the UFC. "He's come through the UFC. He was undefeated, and I think some of the backlash is because people perceive that he was getting 'Dana White privilege,' right? But I disagree," Bisping said. "He went on the Contender (Series), they didn't give him a contract because it was too early in his career, he had to come back twice. ...This (De Ridder) was a bad matchup. This is a really bad matchup, and he chose to jump the gilly. "He's learned, he's just so inexperienced. I think also when you look at the size of them both, Reinier de Ridder is gigantic. He's 6-4 I heard it on good authority, and I won't mention the name, they wanted this matchup. They called out Reinier de Ridder. They were offered another matchup, but no, we want Reinier. It's like, bro, the guy's now 20-2 with world-class jiu-jitsu. You might have sh*t the bed on that one."
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Brendan Schaub says Bo Nickal striking skills 'never happening,' just focus on grappling
Brendan Schaub says Bo Nickal striking skills 'never happening,' just focus on grappling Brendan Schaub believes Bo Nickal should solely focus on his grappling after suffering his first-career loss. Nickal (7-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) was finished by Reinier de Ridder body shots in Saturday's UFC on ESPN 67 co-main event at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. De Ridder was able to fend off Nickal's grappling and finish him on the feet in Round 2. With Nickal's elite wrestling background, Schaub thinks the American Top Team fighter is focusing on the wrong things. "There aren't enough hours in the day for where Bo's striking is about to get to an elite level. There's not," Schaub said on his YouTube channel. "Bo is an elite athlete, but that's how hard striking is. Striking in MMA takes a long, long time to get comfortable and to execute a game plan, and he's just not there. It doesn't matter who his coaches are, it's never happening. Never happening." Nickal opted to stand and strike with Paul Craig for three rounds at UFC 309, a win that led to plenty of criticism from pundits and fans alike. Schaub wants to see Nickal's team reconstruct his game plans moving forward. "So today, they should go, 'Bo, if you're going to win and have a career in the UFC, you have got to absolutely dominate. So what are we going to work on? Your wrestling, your ground-and-pound, and submissions. F*ck your striking. We're going to do just enough so you don't look like a moron,'" Schaub said. "You've got to become that dominant wrestler like you were at Penn State. But if they tell me, 'Schaub, take it easy, his striking is really good in the gym, we're going to focus on striking, forget about wrestling,' I'll tell you he won't last long. "If his whole mentality doesn't change and goes, 'OK, I've got to become the Khabib of 185 and absolutely break everybody with my grappling, f*ck striking' ... If his team wants him to last and be a contender, we've got to focus on his grappling and wrestling. That's where he's an outlier. When he's forced to strike – you guys know I love Bo, (but) his striking, I've seen better guys on the regional level, on the Contender Series. It's just not there. That's OK. If this was a video game, his striking is a 1 at the UFC level, and his grappling is at 10. Why the f*ck are we trying to win with the 1?"
USA Today
06-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC's Cory Sandhagen willing to fight Petr Yan – but on one condition
UFC's Cory Sandhagen willing to fight Petr Yan – but on one condition Cory Sandhagen would consider entertaining Petr Yan's callout but not right away. Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) called for a title shot after defeating Deiveson Figueiredo in Saturday's UFC on ESPN 67 main event. Sandhagen was called out by Yan (18-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who defeated him to claim the interim title at UFC 267 in October 2021. Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) runs things back with Sean O'Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the UFC 316 main event on June 7 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Sandhagen prefers waiting for the outcome of that fight first before accepting a Yan rematch. "Yeah, sure, I'm not going to commit to that until after the title fight," Sandhagen said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I'm not opposed to fighting Yan. I would love to fight Yan, especially because he likes spreading the narrative like remember what happened last time we fought. Like, Yan, dude, I took that on four weeks' notice, on your side of the world, in a fight I only had a month to get ready for, and he's a really good fighter. "You need more time than that to get ready for the guy. And not to mention, I was winning that fight all the way up until I got hit with like that crazy spinny, weird sh*t that he hit me with that I'll never let him hit me with again. Let's not act like that was like a one-sided fight. Because I was winning that fight until I got dropped at the end of the third. If it means fighting Yan again, then for sure, but I mean, the title should be next for me." If a title shot isn't next for Sandhagen, he has a suggestion to up the stakes for a potential rematch with Yan. "I like Yan, though," Sandhagen said. "Me and Yan are cut from the same cloth, and I know that he feels that, too. He's like a gritty, mean guy when he fights, and I'm a gritty, mean guy when I fight, too. I think we're both about that life. I like Yan. If I was going to entertain Yan for anything, just to throw out a teaser or an idea, if I don't get the title shot next, maybe me and Yan for the baddest motherf*cker bantamweight belt would be cool."
USA Today
02-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
UFC on ESPN 67 weigh-in results from Des Moines
UFC on ESPN 67 weigh-in results from Des Moines Sandhagen vs. Figueiredo on top for bantamweight headliner Official weigh-ins for UFC on ESPN 67 take place Friday, and you can get all the results here. The weigh-ins take place at the UFC host hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. The nearby Wells Fargo Arena hosts Saturday's event (ESPN2/ESPN+). Among those weighing in are Cory Sandhagen (17-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (24-4-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC), who meet in the bantamweight main event. In the co-feature, former ONE Championship two-division titleholder Reinier de Ridder (19-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) meets Bo Nickal (7-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC). The full UFC on ESPN 67 weigh-in results include: MAIN CARD (ESPN2, 10 p.m. ET) Cory Sandhagen () vs. Deiveson Figueiredo () Reinier de Ridder () vs. Bo Nickal () Santiago Ponzinibbio () vs. Daniel Rodriguez () Montel Jackson () vs. Daniel Marcos () Serhiy Sidey () vs. Cameron Smotherman () Mason Jones () vs. Jeremy Stephens () PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
