UFC star Bo Nickal made his return to freestyle wrestling at Real American Freestyle 1 on Saturday night.
He took on Jacob Cardenas, a two time NCAA All-American from Michigan, in the co-main event of the inaugural Real American Freestyle event. Nickal’s match was his first freestyle match since his loss to David Taylor at the 2020 Team USA Olympic Trials.
Also on RAF 1, Wyatt Hendrickson headlined, Holly Holm stepped in on short notice for a wrestling match, and Kyle Dake won his match.
Bo Nickal tops Jacob Cardenas
Bo Nickal, who suffered his first pro MMA loss in May to Reinier de Ridder, returned to form after jumping out to an early lead in the first period. After a quick duck under, Nickal’s lead wouldn’t be relinquished until the third period.
Nickal, who is a three time NCAA national champion, took his time to score but when he did shot, it was clear that Nickal could still wrestle at a very high level. But Nickal wouldn’t be rolling through Jacob Cardenas.
Cardenas came back to even up the score and take the lead in the third period with less than a minute to go and looked for a leg lace to stack on the points. But Nickal, as experienced as anyone on the card, scored a reversal and looked to pin Cardenas, riding him out and taking home the win.
In his post fight speech with Chael Sonnen, Bo Nickal admitted that he felt slow but was still happy with his win at RAF. He went on to say that, “I’m the Deion Sanders of combat sports,” alluding to his UFC career that he and his team has high hopes for.
Nickal also said that he fully intended to compete at RAF again.
RAF delivered from top to bottom with some of the biggest names in wrestling showing up to face off with other great names in combat sports, most popular of all Holly Holm. Yes, the former boxing and UFC world champion Holly Holm who dethroned Ronda Rousey donned a singlet and wrestling shoes to take on Alejandra Rivera on one day notice.
Rivera was originally slated to take on Kennedy Blaydes before Blaydes was forced out with injury. In stepped Holm who jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. The crowd at the Wolstein Center were all on their feet as the first period concluded.
Rivera would roar back and take the lead but not before Holm would score another takedown with a head and arm throw. In the end, however, Holm would drop her first ever freestyle match with a respectable score of 9-7.
Wyatt Hendrickson, Kyle Dake, Sarah Hildebrandt
In the main event, NCAA champion Wyatt Hendrickson took on Egypt’s heavyweight Olympian Mostafa Elders. “Captain America” rolled through the heavyweight Olympic team member, tanking his way to eight unanswered points in the first period, including a barrel roll to score points for the Oklahoma State alum.
Hendrickson nearly got the tech in the first period, but Elders was saved by the bell. Hendrickson would finish off Elders early in the second period to take the tech fall with a massive score of 14-1.
Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hildebrandt came out of retirement for RAF 1 as well, taking on Zeltzkin Hernandez. Hildebrandt, who won a gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games, ran through Hernandez and scored a tech fall in the third period.
Kyle Dake, the four time freestyle world champion, won his match with Dean Hamiti via tech fall, 11-0. Real Woods defeated MMA fighter Darrion Caldwell with a second period fall, Evan Wick beat Jason Nolf, and Austin Gomez defeated former PFL champion Lance Palmer as well.
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