A Playful Origin of a Unique Instagram Handle and Football Memories

Bo Nickal is an American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler who currently competes in the UFC middleweight division. In freestyle wrestling, he claimed the 2019 U23 World Championship and the US Open National championship, and was a finalist at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials and a Final X contestant in 2019. As a collegiate wrestler, Nickal was a three-time NCAA Division I National Champion (finalist in 2016) and a three-time Big Ten Conference champion out of Pennsylvania State University.

Considered one of the most accomplished Nittany Lions of all-time, Nickal earned the 2019 Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's most outstanding collegiate wrestler, was a two-time Schalles Award winner as the nation's best pinner and was also named the 2019 Big Ten Athlete of the Year.