Antonio Carlos Jr. Impressed by ATT Stablemate Bo Nickal’s Evolution in MMA

American Top Team training partners Antonio Carlos Jr. and Bo Nickal have taken advantage of the close proximity of their upcoming fights to help each other in sparring during their respective camps.

Carlos Jr., a jiu-jitsu world champion, will face Karl Moore in a first-round light heavyweight bout at PFL World Tournament 4 at Universal Studios in Orlando on Thursday. Nickal, meanwhile, will square off against Reinier de Ridder at UFC Des Moines two days later. The 2021 PFL champion told Sherdog that Nickal continues to adapt well to MMA and expects the three-time NCAA national champion wrestler to perform well against de Ridder.

“Nickal has been improving a lot in terms of striking and, to be honest, his jiu-jitsu surprised me a lot,” Carlos Jr. said. “He brought a body awareness from wrestling that is very important to MMA. He gets into good positions and doesn’t lose. I think he has everything to surprise de Ridder.”

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A former ONE Championship two-division title holder, de Ridder has finished 13 of his 19 professional victories by way of submission. Despite that skill, Carlos Jr. believes Nickal’s grappling translates better to MMA.

“If you analyze the technical aspects of the Dutchman, he may even have better sport jiu-jitsu than Bo, but I think Bo is much more complete and does this mix much better,” Carlos Jr. said. “I’m sure he will surprise on Saturday.”

After having four surgeries on both knees between 2022 and 2024, “Cara de Sapato” guarantees that he will be able to return to the best version of himself in the PFL World Tournament.

“I spent a year out of action (2023) and after so many surgeries, I couldn’t reach 2024 in my best shape,” he said. “This camp was different. I’ve already managed to train 100%, and I’m reaching my best version and, without a doubt, the [training partners] that Bo and I have at ATT is a big difference, and I hope we can show that Thursday and Saturday.”