Bo Nickal's gripping play-by-play of his UFC 290 matchup with Val Woodburn amazes Ariel Helwani: “How do you remember all of that”

Bo Nickal impressed Ariel Helwani by providing an in-depth breakdown of his latest UFC fights.

On July 8, Nickal continued his journey to the top of the UFC middleweight division with his second Octagon win. The three-time NCAA Division 1 national champion was matched up against short-notice replacement opponent Val Woodburn at UFC 290, and things didn’t go as planned for the promotional newcomer.

Nickal made a statement in the first minute by knocking out Woodburn in 38 seconds. The 27-year-old made an appearance on The MMA Hour to discuss the win and detailed what happened to Helwani:

“I’ll just take you through the whole fight because it didn’t last that long. I come out, and I’m expecting him to rush me. I’m thinking, oh, he’s gonna charge in crazy, blitz me in. I’m gonna hit him with a straight left hand, take him out, and sub him. That’s in my mind what’s gonna happen.”

Bo Nickal continued:

“He came out very patient. He was measured, he was backing up, he was looking to counter me, so immediately I have to change gameplans… I throw a straight left and it literally missed by half an inch. I think I would’ve knocked him out cold first punch if my straight left would’ve landed.”

Nickal concluded by detailing the fight-ending sequence:

“At one point, I dropped my right hand down low, and he completely drops his lead hand like down to his hip. In that moment, I was like, alright bro, you’re done. I feint again, come up with the right hook, wobbled him, hit him flush, straight left hand, right hook again, back out, uppercut, then kill him with the last shot when he’s down.”

Helwani was shocked and impressed by Nickal’s memory. The MMA journalist responded by saying:

“How do you remember all that? How did you memorize all that?”

Nickal made his UFC debut on March 4 after earning his contract with two wins on Dana White’s Contender Series. He started his promotional tenure with a first-round submission against Jamie Pickett, followed by his impressive performance at UFC 290.

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Bo Nickal claims he could detail how most of his wrestling matches played out

Bo Nickal competed in hundreds of wrestling matches at various levels before transitioning to MMA. Surprisingly, the Penn State alum claims he can detail most of his matches, similar to what he did with the Val Woodburn win.

During the same episode of The MMA Hour, Nickal had this to say:

“That’s just how I’ve always been. I could probably walk you back through most of my wrestling matches that I competed in college and high school, even when I was a kid… I think I just have a weird intellect with my competitions and stuff.”

It’s unclear when Bo Nickal plans to fight again. Luckily, he took nearly zero damage at UFC 290, allowing him to potentially return to the Octagon in a few months. Only time will tell what’s next for one of the most talked about prospects in MMA.