Bo Nickal Built Gym Near Penn State to Stay Close to Wrestling Roots

Bo Nickal refuses to let go of his wrestling roots even after transitioning to MMA.

Nickal is a former three-time NCAA Division I national champion from Penn State University. Nickal made his pro MMA debut in 2022 and found himself in the UFC after just three outings, which included two in Dana White's Contender Series.

Despite being primarily a wrestler, Nickal has two knockouts to his name and is showing progress in his striking. However, unlike many other wrestlers who focus only on striking after finding success on the feet, Nickal knows wrestling is his bread and butter. In order to practice pure wrestling regularly, Nickal reached out to American Top Team owner Dan Lambert. They built a gym just 10 minutes away from Penn State so that Nickal can train MMA in the mornings and join the university team for wrestling practice in the afternoons.

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“I wrestled at state college in Penn State and I love that area,” Nickal recently told Demetrious Johnson. “And I saw this kind of trend with wrestlers where they all transition to MMA and it’s like, ‘All right, I knock a guy out and now I’m a freaking striker.’ And I was like, ‘Nah I’m not doing that.’ So I reached out to Dan Lambert at American Top Team and we ended up building a gym about 10 minutes away from Penn State campus. That’s where I started training. So they brought up three full-time coaches up there: jiu-jitsu, muay thai, boxing. And then basically what I am doing is, every morning training MMA and then in the afternoons I still go wrestle with the Penn State team. So I’m wrestling the best guys in the world almost every day.”

Nickal’s wrestling skills will certainly be tested as he takes on veteran grappler Paul Craig (17-8) at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The undefeated Penn State alum has finished all six of his pro wins so far, going past the first stanza only once. Meanwhile, “Bearjew” finished Andre Muniz in his middleweight debut last year but has since suffered consecutive stoppage losses against Brendan Allen and Caio Borralho.