SAN DIEGO – Gerald Meerschaert thinks the sky is the limit for Bo Nickal.
Having trained with Nickal before, Meerschaert sees the standout wrestler doing very well in his MMA career. Nickal made quick work of Zachary Borrego at Dana White’s Contender Series 49 on Tuesday, but was awarded a second chance on the show instead of a UFC contract.
Nickal (2-0) handled the situation well and Meerschaert thinks with his fight IQ and mentality, Nickal will live up to his potential.
“I think Bo will do really well,” Meerschaert said Wednesday at UFC on ESPN 41 media day in San Diego. “I actually got to work with him a while ago, maybe a year ago now or something like that. But yeah, really nice guy, moves really well – so like first-hand, I got to move with him and (he was) very receptive to any knowledge I had to give to him. But he’s good. His grappling is going to translate really, really well.
“Obviously he comes from a long line of really great wrestlers from the Penn State program. He’s got a lot of competition under his belt already just through that, both nationally and internationally, and I think he’s got a great approach. You heard him say in the interview, ‘Look we’re going to wrestle.’ Some guys get in there and they want to knock everyone out, but for him to recognize that – he’ll still have his moments, but to stick to your bread and butter like that, I think he’s going to do really well.”
That’s high praise from Meerschaert (34-15 MMA, 9-7 UFC), who’s one of the most prolific submission artists in the sport. Prior to losing his most recent outing to Krzysztof Jotko in April, Meerschaert submitted Bartosz Fabinski, highly touted prospect Makhmud Muradov and Dustin Stoltzfus.
He returns to action on Saturday when he faces Bruno Silva (22-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 41, which takes place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 41.
