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At one point, not all that long ago, Bo Nickal was touted as the most can’t-miss, up-and-coming prospect in the entire UFC.
But Nickal’s hype train was briefly derailed earlier this year when he was thoroughly outclassed by Reinier de Ridder in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Des Moines in early May. De Ridder dominated Nickal, winning by TKO shortly into the second round.
Nickal then promised to bounce back from the loss, calling out the haters.
“It’s interesting, of course… there’s a lot of positive and a lot of negative,” Nickal said in a since-edited episode of his podcast on YouTube. “All the negative, to me, I look at that and all I say is like, suck my d—.
“At the end of the day, say what you want. But when I get back on top, and when I’m the freaking champion of the world, you all will come crawling back. They always do. They always do, and I will spit right in your face.”
Bo Nickal Delivers On Promise With Brutal KO At UFC 322
On Saturday night at UFC 322, Nickal had his first chance to make good on that promise against Brazilian Rodolfo Vieira, and he delivered in incredible fashion.
Bo Nickal with a massive head kick knockout against Rodolfo Vieira 💀
HEAD KICK. DEAD. #UFC322
pic.twitter.com/oyb130CuUv— Delinquent MMA (@DelinquentMMA) November 16, 2025
Nickal picked up an early takedown in the first round and landed several significant strikes against Vieira on the feet, cutting him open.
He continued the onslaught in the second round and entered the third and final round likely ahead two rounds to none on each of the judges’ scorecards.
But rather than settling for a decision victory, Nickal went for, and pulled off, the spectacular. He drilled Vieira with a headkick, knocking him out and ending the fight at the 2:24 mark of the third round.
After the win, Nickal climbed the cage and gave a double middle-finger salute to the crowd. While his antics didn’t impress everyone, the headkick did, as social media went wild over the KO.
Inspiring performance from Bo Nickal. Everyone can kick you while you’re down in the dumps, call you a fraud, and you can still bounce back. Beautiful kick. Big things coming for the American
— Dan (@BestFightPicks) November 16, 2025
🤯🤯🤯🤯
Who saw THAT coming?! Beautiful headkick KO from Bo!!#UFC320— Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson (@CoreyA_MMA) November 16, 2025
For a wrestler that knockout was insane… for anyone that knockout was insane
— Billy Quarantillo (@BillyQMMA) November 16, 2025
Nickal is still just nine fights into his MMA career, and this was undeniably his most impressive performance to date. If he can continue to add to his repertoire, the three-time NCAA wrestling champion is going to be a problem in the middleweight division for years to come.