Bo Nickal would love rematch with David Taylor in Real American Freestyle

Bo Nickal wouldn’t mind running it back with David Taylor, a former teammate at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. The two last squared off at the 2020 Olympic Trials Finals with Taylor winning 4-0 and 6-0 in the best-of-three series.

Nickal, who’s 7-1 in his MMA career and 4-1 in the UFC, just signed with Real American Freestyle in a return to wrestling. The plan is for Nickal to be on the inaugural card on August 30th in Cleveland.

Like a fighter who competes in jiu jitsu, Nickal is doing the same with wrestling. But, he would love to get Taylor back years later. Taylor, of course, is an Olympic Gold Medalist who recently retired from competing and just finished his first year as Oklahoma State’s head coach.

“He doesn’t want that,” Nickal told Ariel Helwani, when the latter asked if that would be his first opponent. “I doubt it. I’m ready to go.”

Helwani then asked Nickal why Taylor wouldn’t want it. Especially considering Taylor has the leg up on Nickal in terms of the wins.

“He does, he has two (wins over me),” Nickal said. “I don’t think he’s training hard. He’s focused on what he’s focused on and he’s doing a great job at Oklahoma State. But I’m down.”

In his four seasons at Penn State, Nickal compiled a 120-3 record, won three NCAA titles (two at 184 pounds and one at 197 pounds), was a four-time All-American (national finalist in 2016 at 174 pounds) and finished his career on a 67-match winning streak.

Nickal’s MMA record fell to 7-1 overall following his first loss coming in May. Reinier de Ridder came into the fight ranked No. 13 at middleweight, giving the former Nittany Lion his first ranked opponent and eventual loss via TKO.

Taylor won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 at 86 KG. He’s also a three-time World Champion and won a Silver Medal at the 2021 World Championships.

Taylor was a two-time NCAA champion and four-time finalist while at Penn State. His losses in the finals came to Bubba Jenkins (Arizona State) and Kyle Dake (Cornell). Ironically, Jenkins was at Penn State but transferred to ASU when Cael Sanderson arrived in 2010.

Taylor was in contention to go to the 2024 Paris Games last summer but was defeated at the Olympic Trials. In the best-of-three finals, Taylor was outlasted in two matches by Aaron Brooks, who just won his fourth NCAA title for Penn State back in March of 2024. Brooks went on to win a Bronze Medal in Paris.