Rodolfo Vieira explains why Bo Nickal is ‘one of the toughest’ fights of his career at UFC 322
Rodolfo Vieira and Bo Nickal finally meet inside the octagon Saturday, competing in the preliminary portion of UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden, and it’s a matchup that intrigues the jiu-jitsu legend.
The UFC wanted to book this clash for the last MSG card in November 2024, but Vieira was dealing with a hand injury at the time. A lot has changed since, with Vieira now training at Sao Paulo’s The Fighting Nerds gym and Nickal no longer being an undefeated middleweight, but Vieira still sees him as a complicated style to prepare for.
“It really is a very big fight, right?” Vieira told MMA Fighting. “I think it will be the biggest — I think, no, it will be the biggest fight of my career. And one of the toughest, too.”
Nickal carried a ton of hype last November, winning a decision over the experienced Paul Craig. The decorated wrestler was back in action in May, but lost by second-round knockout to Reinier de Ridder. Vieira now faces an under-pressure Nickal instead of a fully hyped prospect, and says that only makes him more dangerous.
“I really could’ve been surprised by his striking then, which he showed really well against Paul Craig,” Vieira said. “I don’t think there’s as much hype from fans or critics this time, but I’m approaching this fight very seriously, as always, and expecting a well-rounded opponent. I’m not focusing on his last fight or where he didn’t perform like he used to.
“We studied all his fights, not just that one. Nothing changes for me. Not the loss, not the knockout, not the weaknesses he showed. I’m preparing like I’m fighting the same Bo Nickal from before, with all that hype behind him. I’m getting ready for everything because anything can happen in this fight. He could try to take me down, or he might want to stand and trade. It’s actually hard to predict, because he’s shown himself to be a pretty complete fighter.”
Nickal is one of the most experienced wrestlers to ever transition to mixed martial arts, winning three NCAA wrestling championships, and then appearing twice on Dana White’s Contender Series prior to a 4-0 start in the UFC. Vieira, on the other hand, is a multiple-time jiu-jitsu champion and ADCC gold medalist who isn’t used to being threatened with takedowns in MMA.
“I think the only way he won’t take me down is if he doesn’t want to,” Vieira laughed. “I’ll be ready, you know? I’ve been training a lot of jiu-jitsu, a lot from guard, because I know there’s a good chance it’ll happen. This is MMA. I can’t go in there thinking he’ll only shoot takedowns and then get caught by a big overhand or a cross, because he throws those hard, and knocks me out. I’m preparing for everything. If he takes me down, I’ll be ready to fight from there. It would actually be the first time [I’m taken down] because in all my fights, I was always the one preparing to take the opponent down. But this time it’s a bit different because we know how good his wrestling is. There’s a good chance I’ll end up on bottom, but also a good chance I’ll sweep or get back up. That’s why I’ve been putting myself in those positions a lot in training.”
Vieira won a decision over Tresean Gore in August—his debut as a member of The Fighting Nerds—to rebound from a decision loss to Andre Petroski. With a UFC record of 6-3, Vieira celebrates entering a cage three times in a calendar year, a first for him in MMA, because you learn in training, but “really grow and evolve” with fights.
“This fight, no matter the result, is going to take me to another level,” Vieira said. “I’m doing everything I can because he’s becoming an unpredictable fighter, and that’s dangerous. When you fight a striker, you know he’s never going to try to take you down, he’s going to punch and kick. But when you fight grapplers or jiu-jitsu guys who develop solid striking, or wrestlers who improve their standup, you never really know what’s coming. The guy can decide to keep it standing and strike, or shoot for takedowns at any moment.”
The UFC was built around the premise that jiu-jitsu is the best martial art, and Royce Gracie was able to prove that point in 1993. Three decades later, Vieira said that tapping out an NCAA champion would be a great reason to be proud.
“Submitting anyone already makes me super happy and proud,” Vieira said, “But submitting a guy of that caliber would be something else. It would definitely be a reason for huge celebration and pride in my work.”
To prepare for that task Vieira had the chance to share the mats and talk to a man who has done that many times before: Demian Maia, a two-time UFC title challenger who has finished the likes of Chael Sonnen and Ben Askren in the UFC.
Vieira picked Maia’s brain ahead of UFC 322.
“It was an incredibly positive experience for me and for my career,” Vieira said of the training session in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “We’d actually trained together once before in South Korea, at an event I was fighting in — he was there because he was sponsored by the same brand. We did a light gi session since I was about to fight, so we had to take it easy. But this time it was a hard training session and I could really feel how good he still is. Super technical, super precise. I got to see that firsthand.
“We talked a lot, too. I really enjoyed training with him and getting to understand his mindset. Talking to him, I could see why his grappling game was so dominant. He managed to impose it on anyone — strikers, wrestlers, top-level opponents. I think it’s because he truly believed in his style and trained it every single day. Even when he trained boxing, he would include takedowns and clinch work. He wasn’t a guy who just trained wrestling or grappling once in a while, he worked on it every day, constantly refining what he did best. I think that was the key to his career success.”
