Bo Nickal got back on track in epic fashion after delivering a vicious head kick knockout to finish Rodolfo Vieira in the featured prelim at UFC 322.
A body shot from Reinier de Ridder handed Nickal the first loss of his career but the Penn State alum came back with a vengeance on Saturday. After outstriking Vieira for the better part of two rounds, Nickal saw an opening to unleash a devastating head kick that connected and sent the former grappling champion crashing to the canvas in a heap.
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There was no followup shot necessary with the end coming at 2:24 in the third round.
“That’s the game,” Nickal said after his win. “I’ve lost a lot since I was a kid … but I always bounce back. I always keep coming. We’re on ESPN so I can’t curse but frick you motherfrickers for booing me and then cheering me. Figure it out. Either love me or hate me, pick one. I’ll be honest, I get a little fired up about it but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
It took less than a minute for Nickal to grab onto the body lock and throw Vieira to the ground before he started unleashing punches in succession. Nickal stayed on the attack with Vieira playing defense to ensure he didn’t absorb too much damage.
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Vieira eventually broke free and got back to his feet but he had blood trickling down the side of his face after Nickal clipped him with a slick inside elbow against the cage.
On the restart in round two, Vieira actually cracked Nickal with a hard right hand but the former NCAA champion wrestler fired back with a nasty body kick. As time passed, Nickal started showing more confidences in his hands and he was connecting with solid combinations as Vieira’s face turned into a bloody mess.
With less than a minute remaining in the round, Nickal uncorked a perfectly timed left hook that blasted Vieira and wobbled the Brazilian. Nickal threw another combination but didn’t overexert himself or give Vieira a chance to catch him with something if he got over aggressive.
Nickal continued chipping away with a good lead jab and Vieira was just hesitating to throw much of anything as the fight just slipped away from him.
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That’s when Nickal saw the opening for the head kick out of nowhere as he blasted Vieira and ended the fight in dramatic fashion.
While losing was never part of his plan, Nickal learned from that setback and returned even better than before as he earned the knockout win and improved his overall record to 8-1.
