Bo Nickal’s coach admits UFC pushed him into big fights too Soon. Bo Nickal, one of the most talked-about MMA prospects of recent years has received honest feedback from his own head coach about the pace of his rise in the UFC.
American Top Team coach Mike Brown acknowledged that Nickal was pushed into high-level fights earlier than ideal, saying everyone involved knew it was happening even before his first professional loss.
Nickal exploded onto the MMA scene with a perfect 7-0 record including six finishes, thanks to his elite wrestling background as a three-time NCAA Division champion. That early success helped him earn quick opportunities in the UFC and larger paychecks, but it also meant he was matched against tough, experienced opponents far sooner than most fighters. Coach Brown didn’t shy away from admitting that reality.
“He was moving a bit too fast,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “We all knew it. He knew it. I knew it. We all knew it. Management knew it. But he was also was getting paid very well. You’re not going to get the big bucks if you’re fighting guys on the prelims. If you’re getting bigger paychecks, then they’re going to push you and not give you layups.
“ Experience is so much in this sport. Experience is everything. He went a little too quick, a little too fast but also it was a little bit of pressure off surprisingly when de Ridder after he beat Bo, he beat ‘Bobby Knuckles’ [Robert] Whittaker.”
“It’s not a fight I necessarily wanted 100 percent,” Brown said. “There are other guys I would have rather had. [Reinier de Ridder] just showed that he’s better than a lot of people in that division. He’s capable of big things. He’s got more experience than Bo and it showed.
“That’s the fight game. In this game, everybody loses or 99.9 percent of every great UFC fighter loses.” Brown explained that while early UFC fights against less experienced foes build confidence and ring savvy, the promotion understandably wants prospects to be tested quickly.
The trade-off, Brown said, was experience versus exposure and Nickal’s team underestimated just how steep that test would be at the top level.
That gamble became clear at UFC Des Moines, where Nickal suffered his first professional loss to Reinier de Ridder. Ridder is a former two-division ONE Championship titleholder with far more cage time. De Ridder dominated throughout the fight before securing a knockout, highlighting the experience gap between the two competitors.
Despite the setback, Nickal responded strongly in his next outing. At UFC 322, he delivered a powerful head kick knockout over grappling specialist Rodolfo Vieira earning a Performance of the Night bonus.
More importantly, Nickal added more cage time to his resume, and Brown believes that fight showed the constant improvements being made to eventually put him in a position to battle for a UFC title one day.
“It was a nice comeback,” Brown said. “He dominated. He looked great. He had a nice highlight reel KO, which was beautiful.”
Nickal isn’t currently booked for another UFC fight, but he’s scheduled to face former title challenger Yoel Romero at RAF 5 on January 10, 2026- a chance to further sharpen his skills against veteran opposition outside the UFC spotlight.
Despite the early loss and recent criticism from veterans like Colby Covington and Luke Rockhold — who’ve questioned whether he’s earned respect as a true MMA fighter yet, Nickal’s trajectory remains upward. Learning from being fast-tracked, rather than letting it define him, may be the key to his future success.
