The latest phenom to come off Dana White’s Contender Series looks set to make his UFC debut before the end of the year.
Bo Nickal’s hype train is full steam ahead. The former three-time DI national champion wrestler made his MMA debut back in June. Two months later he took his first bout on Dana White’s Contender Series. A little more than a month after that and the ‘Allen Assassin’ picked up a UFC contract. Three fights, two-and-a-half minutes of cage time, and Nickal is on his way to the big show.
Not only does Nickal now have his first UFC contract in hand, however, ESPN reports that the phenom talent also already has his first bout booked with his new promotional home. Nickal is scheduled to face 2020 DWCS signing Jamie Pickett at UFC 282 on December 10th.
Pickett (13-8) is coming off back-to-back losses for the second time in his six-fight UFC run, having most recently been TKO’d by Dennis Tiuliulin at UFC 279 back in September. That defeat came square on the heels of a February fight against Kyle Daukaus, with the ‘Night Wolf’ losing that contest via first round submission.
As noted above, Nickal enters this fight on a 3-0 run to start his MMA career. Most recently picking up a 52-second submission victory over Donovan Beard on the DWCS season 6 finale fight card. With his next bout not coming until early December this will mark the longest stretch between fights for the 26-year-old to date.
UFC 282 is set to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. No main event has been made official as of yet, but the card is expected to be the target venue for a light heavyweight title fight rematch between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka.