Nickal’s UFC debut has been one of the more interesting stories
bubbling over the last few months. The UFC essentially built the
2022 edition of Dana White’s Contender Series around Nickal, a
multi-time collegiate champion and Olympic hopeful as a wrestler,
and he came through with two big wins that took less than two
minutes combined. Nickal is still obviously a work in progress just
three fights into his pro career, but all the tools are there.
Beyond the wrestling chops, he has shown the ability to hit like a
truck. Nickal will surely reach the point where he will hit a wall
thanks to not knowing what he does not yet know, but for now, he
gets a fight against Pickett in his Octagon debut that offers just
enough intrigue to be interesting. Pickett has the physical tools
to cause some problems for Nickal, but that has never been the
issue for “The Nightwolf,” who has been consistently held back by
his unwillingness to pull the trigger. He finally earned a UFC
contract in his third outing on DWCS, which was quite instructive,
as it was an even fight until Pickett suddenly decided to spring
into action and quickly end it thereafter. At the UFC level,
Pickett’s wins have mostly been slow grinds that have seen him lean
on his opponents, which does not figure to work in this assignment;
and given that previous opponents have been able to get the jump on
Pickett without much trouble, Nickal’s explosiveness and aggression
should find him success almost immediately. The pick is Nickal via
first-round submission.
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